Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1501168
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 27 MARCH 2022 OPINION 3 LETTERS & EDITORIAL maltatoday | SUNDAY • 11 JUNE 2023 Mikiel Galea Letters & Clarifications Women in party leadership JUST over a week ago Sandra Gauci was elected ADPD leader, for which I con- gratulate her and wish her well. There is much we see eye to eye on and I hope we find opportunities to work together. However, several outlets have errone- ously reported that she is the third fe- male leader of a political party in Malta, which is untrue – in fact, she is the fifth. While that does not take away from her achievement, it's essential to make sure we don't rewrite Malta's history, and the impact of women's leadership in politics. As everyone knows, Mabel Strickland became Malta's first female political party leader, when she founded the Progressive Constitutional Party in 1953. She was also a prominent politician prior to establish- ing her party, having been elected in 1950, as an MP for the Constitutional Party, and again in 1951. Meanwhile, as leader of the Progressive Constitutional Party, Mabel Strickland won a seat almost 10 years later in 1962. The party participated in its last election in 1971. As the two-party system became en- trenched in the country's political culture, there were no women leading a political party in Malta until the European Parlia- ment elections of 2009. That year, Mary Gauci left the right- wing Azzjoni Nazzjonali party, and then founded and led the eurosceptic Libertas Malta party. Following an unsuccessful election run the party went inactive and Mary became one of the Labour Party's candidates for the 2019 MEP elections. In 2016, Marlene Farrugia left the Labour Party and became Malta's third female leader of a political party when she co-founded the Democratic Party. She also broke a decades-long streak of parlia- ment lacking a third-party voice. Even after she left the party, as an inde- pendent MP Marlene shook the political status quo as she presented a private member's bill to decriminalise abortion in May 2021, which was sadly shelved. Just two weeks before Marlene pre- sented her Bill, I co-founded Volt Mal- ta in 2021 where I was first elected as vice-President and then appointed as Co-President later that year. I've held the party's co-leadership position since and was re-elected for a two-year term in December 2022, after I ran for last year's General Election. I'm glad to no longer be the only wom- an presently leading a party in Malta now that Sandra Gauci has been elected as Chairperson for ADPD. I'm sure she'll do great things during her tenure. There's a scarcity of women in politics, and the gender corrective mechanism has not been a solution. There's better ideas out there, such as gender-alternating electoral lists. I look forward to a time when we're no longer led to dismay at the handful of women elected to parliament. Women in politics and in leadership should not be seen as outliers, but part of the norm. Alexia DeBono Volt MT Co-President A shocking act I read in shock the report 'Vulnerable Person Was Hit By A Shoe And As- saulted At Church Home For Disabled.' The two carers involved in the incident will now have their day in court to answer to the charges that police have brought against them. But it pains me to know that anyone going by the job designation 'carer' could have perpetrated such a shocking act of savagery against a person with a disabil- ity. What concerned me more was the apparent omertà of the other carers wht witnessed both incidents and did not lift a finger to intervene. In my eyes, those who witnessed the as- sault and did nothing about it are as guilty as the two people who are being charged. We are not talking about random wit- nesses in a street but fellow carers who know the responsibility they shoulder. Admittedly, dealing with vulnerable people is not always easy. Finding the right balance between allowing the in- dividual the space to express their per- sonality and being assertive when certain behaviours require correcting is no mean feat. This is why carers should have the necessary training to be able to under- stand why a person is behaving as they are, the triggers that lead to the problem- atic behaviour and how to act in these circumstances. I hope that justice is served in this case but also that the authorities at Dar Arka ensure that their employees and volun- teers are adequately trained for their job. Alfred Formosa Birkirkara Correction on gender pronouns In last week's edition of MaltaToday on Sunday, Mina Jack Tolu was misgendered in the article 'No more hushed-up talk on the period' by using the wrong pronouns. The accurate version of the article is the online version. MaltaToday is committed to respect individuals' right to self-de- termination on gender and identity and apologises for the error.