Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1219206
one of the most successful ide- ologies that have ever prevailed. We have experienced all sorts of ideologies – based on capital- ism, communism, or different religions – but the one global ideology that has been success- fully sustained, across time and space, is patriarchy. And those five pillars hold up the patriarchy, in every space. The media is one of those pillars and it also plays its part, in the global landscape of inequality. In the not-so-distant past, dis- cussion programmes often tended to be all-male affairs… though this seems to have changed of late. Do you still see a gender gap in Maltese public discussion? It has changed… a bit. But we know from the GMMP reports that there still isn't enough fe- male representation on discus- sion programmes… and I'm not just talking about Malta here. There is, in fact, ongoing activ- ism about this on social media platforms: one example is the Twitter hashtag '#manel', to re- fer to a discussion panel that is made up primarily of men. If you watch a TV programme where, yet again, another 'manel' is discussing a particular issue… any issue, really; including wom- en's issues such as reproductive rights, legislation on women's bodies etc… then you can flag it using the hashtag. This is hap- pening in in the UK, Ireland, the USA and a lot of other countries and Mediating Women plans a similar hashtag campaign here in Malta. So yes, 'manels' are still a very-much recognised phe- nomenon, in the global and lo- cal media. (So if you are watch- ing a programme and there is a predominantly male panel – screenshot it and send it to us on our Facebook page.) I am aware that practitioners do try to find women to come on board; but it can be tricky, when there are tight deadlines, and when you're up against a quick turnaround, as a practitioner… and sometimes, women are re- luctant to come forward… Could this be the result of nega- tive public perceptions of wom- en in the public sphere? For ex- ample, women politicians tend to be criticised harsher than men... Yes, that is definitely a factor. And again, the media also plays its part. Take, for instance, the last three major elections in the UK and Ireland. Female candi- dates from all those all talked about how were they were often framed by the media... based on how they look; who they're mar- ried to; how many children they have; what they were wearing on the day... but often with less attention given to their policies. On the flipside, when they do put their voices out there – whether on Twitter, on any oth- er social media platform – the hate-speech they get thrown back at them, as well as the trolling and the verbal violence, is exponentially greater than the kind of responses male politi- cians get. And there is a lot of research to prove it: women in politics are far more likely to be the subject of aggravated hate speech, including threats of murder and rape, than men. This is happening in Malta, too: as attested by an escalation in death threats targeting female politicians during the MEP elec- tion campaign, as well as by the ongoing inquiry into Daphne Caruana Galizia's murder. How do you account for this appar- ent spike in misogyny? Unfortunately, it is a global phenomenon and not so much a spike – it is just more visible now, thanks to social media. Look at the American politi- cal system at the moment. The manner in which female politi- cians are being trolled, harassed and threatened is vile: and the attacks are often centred on their bodies, and on their sexual safety. Why is this happening? Be- cause of a persistent attitude that women are somehow less 'real', less important and should be quiet 'good girls' who fulfil their duties as wives and moth- ers or other supportive roles. It also happens because when women speak out, or take up a significant position, their in- terests and perspectives often contradict what men want, and what a male-dominated society wants them to be. Hate speech becomes 'every- day' and there is no effective leg- islation against it. But it's not a problem that can be addressed just through legislation; we also need to be teaching our boys and girls, from a very young age, that 'misogyny is not OK', that wom- en are 'real' people, and that there is another side to the hu- man experience that is as valid and important as the male one. Education is key – and the me- dia plays a crucial role here. It is imperative that increased visi- bility of women, with a stronger voice in non-stereotypical sce- narios becomes the norm. Much of this rests in how men come to terms with their rela- tionships with women, as wom- en find their strength and place in the world; that way we can start co-creating a society that works for both. Because right now it doesn't work. Women make up half the world, and have given birth to all of it. We are entitled to a place at the ta- ble. PHOTO BY JAMES BIANCHI 9 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 8 MARCH 2020 INTERVIEW We [must] start co-creating a society that works for both. Because right now it doesn't work. Women make up half the world, and have given birth to all of it. We are entitled to a place at the table