Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1347847
11 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 7 MARCH 2021 OPINION Women on boards: a long way to go ly not working) that can be held up as an example of what Abela's government has actually done to control the spread of the virus, and to minimize the death toll. And this is why the second question was directed at Char- maine Gauci, not the Prime Min- ister at all. For better or worse, Robert Abela can be excused for not having a workable public health strategy at his fingertips. He's not exactly a scientist, or a health practitioner; and in any case, his government is obliged to base its health strategies on the advice of the Superintendence of Public Health. It cannot escape notice, how- ever, that Charmaine Gauci's refusal to ever impose stricter measures chimes in perfectly with Robert Abela's consistent downplaying of the crisis, every step of the way. And there would be nothing at all wrong with that, I hasten to add… if only there was evidence that this combined strategy was actually producing positive results. But we can see the results of all this pussy-footing with our own two eyes. Cases are skyrocketing, the death toll is increasing… yet the national strategy remains the same regardless. With one significant difference, however. While the government is within its rights to try and safeguard the economy… the Superintendent of Public Health is under so such obligation. Her remit is to ensure that the other central pillar of the entire argu- ment – health – also gets a fair hearing, alongside its economic counterpart. But judging by the advice she has clearly given government so far – even now, as the crisis deepens – it doesn't really look like she's fulfilling that mandate, does it? On the contrary, it seems as though the Superintendence of Public Health is likewise driven by the same concern underpin- ning all Robert Abela's efforts: i.e., to upset the economic apple-cart as little as possible. And what was the question again? Didn't it have something to do with 'letting political expe- dience get in the way of decisions affecting public health…?' Having said this, though: it re- mains debatable whether it really adds up to a resignation matter (I myself have doubts about that, to be honest). But there can be no doubt that the question itself was fully warranted. Indeed, if this were any other European country apart from Malta, it would not have come just from random, individual journalists here and there… and even less would it have resulted in a barrage of hostility towards those same journalists. All things considered: far from 'taking offence', Robert Abela in particular should really be thank- ful that he lives in a country where the role of the media remains so hopelessly misunderstood. Oth- erwise, there would probably be precious little left of him at all… after the media vultures had fin- ished picking his bones clean. GENDER imbalance in decision-making positions is a reality in various domains including politics, science, research, and financial sectors. While a leap forward has been made with the published bill propos- ing legal amendments to ensure gender balance in the Maltese Parliament, we still have a long way to go when it comes to the participation of women in business man- agement. Indeed, the proportion of women on the boards of the largest publicly listed com- panies registered in the EU Member States reached 30%, whereas in Malta, women ac- count for 9.9% of board members. Research shows that when women have less deci- sion-making power either in households, in the boardroom or in government, then women's needs are less likely to be under- stood or met. On her election to the position of Presi- dent of the European Commission, Ursu- la von der Leyen emphasized that "gender equality is a core principle of the European Union". In fact, she stated that she will seek to build a majority to unblock the 2012 Di- rective. The 2012 proposal for a Directive on gen- der balance among non-executive directors of companies aimed to address the consid- erable imbalance between women and men in economic decision-making at the highest level. To ensure its progress, the proposal Direc- tive is also one of the main priorities in the European Commission's EU Gender Equal- ity Strategy 2020-2025 adopted in March 2020. The Maltese Presidency in 2017 also gave this Directive its support with the organisa- tion of a working party for Member States (MS) to pave the way forward to improve the gender balance among non-executive directors of companies listed on stock ex- changes and related measures. The results of these deliberations were presented in a progress report on developments in June 2017 during the Employment, Social Poli- cy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council (EPSCO) meeting, "calling for further work and political reflection in order to reach a compromise". Various measures have been taken by a number of EU MS to make further progress on the matter. Moreover, in January 2021, Germany's cabinet approved legislation to help boost the number of female execu- tives in top jobs. Under this legislation, the boards of German listed companies with more than three members will be obliged to have at least one woman. Companies in which the federal government has a major- ity stake will also have a mandatory quota of 30% of female board members. In fact, France which introduced a 40% quota in 2011, leads the way in the EU with just over 45% of board members at the country's larg- est publicly listed companies being female. In 2020, Malta registered some progress in decision-making and headship positions with the appointment of women in vari- ous high positions, including: The Attor- ney General; the Chairperson of the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) Board; and the Head of News at PBS. However, more work needs to be done to empower more women in decision-making positions and address Malta's very low rate of women on compa- ny boards. To highlight the need to reach this ob- jective, the National Commission for the Promotion of Equality (NCPE) in 2013 ad- dressed the under-representation of wom- en on corporate boards and in management positions when it implemented a project en- titled 'Gender Balance in Decision Making', co-financed by the European Social Fund. This initiative was intended to increase the number of women in decision-making posi- tions, empower and enable women to take up such positions, and tangibly support and advise policy makers on gender-balance in decision-making. As part of this work, an Online Directo- ry of Professional Women was developed in 2015 as one way to reach such targets. Moreover, the NCPE carried out a research study focusing on gender-balanced rep- resentation in boardrooms of both the pub- lic and private sectors in Malta and Gozo. The analysis of the data collected showed that gender discrimination and stereotyp- ing remain present in most organisations. According to the findings, this is potentially because it is the woman who is sacrificing her career to take care of the family. Not only is this the case, but evidently there exists a societal mind-set that expects wom- en to give up their career for the needs of the family. Needless to say, this represents a considerable loss for society and the econo- my due to unexploited female potential. Whether you are a woman or a man should not influence the career you follow. Research shows that inclusive and diverse leadership is required to deal with the chal- lenges that decision-makers face today. As Ursula von der Leyen stated, "using on- ly half of the population, half of the ideas or half of the energy is not good enough." Not good enough for the individual, not good enough for society in general. Renée Laiviera Renée Laiviera is Commissioner for Promotion of Equality