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maltatoday SUNDAY 24 DECEMBER 2017 News 9 Christmas specials • The female voice Shaking the tree 2017 saw an increase in female activism and representation in Malta, but was it the year where one female voice excelled, or the year when it was silenced with the brutal murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia? 2017 will be remembered as the year sexual harassment finally made it to the front pages, fuelled by Hollywood stars publicly de- nouncing renowned directors and actors, and leading to a pub- lic outcry that gave the "me too" movement the perfect opportu- nity to push for awareness and change. Women of all nationalities, race, creed and background came together and spoke out against prevalent chauvinism and sexual predators. No issue was too small or too big, cat-calling got its time in the spotlight as did female victims of sexual harassment, rape and vio- lence. These brave women – for it took courage to speak out, par- ticularly is some male-dominated industries – were collectively even recognised as Time Maga- zine's person of the year. 2017 will heretofore by remem- bered as the year that culminated in the downfall of the likes of Har- vey Weinsten and Kevin Spacey, but also for the rise of the women who lived under their thumbs for years. Not so Malta. Locally, women still struggle to have their voice heard, with is- sues like sexual harassment and violence often being superseded by politics and – unfortunately – mundane things of little or no social import. Carla Camilleri, of human rights NGO Aditus, agrees. "One could say that if we look back at 2017, we can see a country that is still struggling to attribute to a woman's mind and body the equal value, respect and freedom to those of a man," she says. Daphne Caruana Galizia's mur- der garnered so much interest not only because it was a unique and barbaric murder – and possibly the first car bomb to ever result in someone being arraigned – but because Daphne was unique her- self. Not only was she a journalist: she was fierce, unapologetic, and most of all, a woman. A male journalist would prob- ably never have been called emo- tional, loud, or objectified on the way they spoke or looked. Think of well-known public and political figures. Marlene Farrugia herself, the only woman leading (until on- ly a few weeks ago) her own politi- cal party, is constantly called loud just for being passionate. When a man is determined and passion- ate, or ready to take action in his own hands, he is euphoric and left uninterrupted. When a woman does the same she is hysteric. "Female journalists, politicians and civil society activists have been victims of targeted hate speech, misogyny and gender ste- reotyping both publicly and pri- vately and we have seen that per- petrators have seldom been held to account," Camilleri says. Although Caruana Galizia's murder may have grabbed the headlines, 2017 also marked 70 years since Maltese women were given the right to vote and stand for election. 70 years after universal suffrage, the faces representing Malta are still mostly male, academic Car- men Sammut, pro-rector of the University of Malta says. "The trajectory of women's emancipation is very often omit- ted from the prevailing narratives that reinforce our sense of nation- hood." Women are still largely absent from Malta's public sphere and highest democratic institutions. "We see abysmal female repre- sentation in public life," Camilleri adds. "Only 11% of electoral can- didates in 2017 were women; no more than ten out of the 67 can- didates elected to Parliament are women and women represent on- ly two Cabinet Ministers out of 15 and six female judges out of 23." These statistics are very damn- ing and show the distinct discrep- ancies between male and female participation among Malta's deci- sion-makers and lawmakers. The wage gap too remains sig- nificant, with women in Malta earning almost half of what men get, standing at 45.6%, higher than most EU member states, with the average standing at 39.6%. On the bright side, female grad- uates outnumber males and girls' overall exam performance also exceeds that of boys. "While other countries ad- vanced, the participation rate in Malta remained frozen in time." Sammut says. "We are far from achieving a gender-balanced rep- resentation in Parliament, where both sexes need to have a mini- mum of 40% representation." So not all news is bleak. Women have started to voice their opin- ions unapologetically more and more, fighting for what is right. Unfortunately, their battles have been worries for many years, and indicate the lack of equal rights. "The issues being discussed 20, 30 years ago are still relevant and topical today, access to reproduc- tive rights, equality, domestic vio- lence, political rights and so on," Camilleri says. Women are fighting back hard for what they believe in, and ma- jor battles are being won. In fact, it was only a year ago that the morning-after pill was legalised in Malta, after much debate led by women activists like lawyer Lara Dimitrijevic. A number of women-led move- ments have also become more ac- tive, and new ones keep emerging. "The Women's Rights Foun- dation is leading the way for re- productive rights in Malta to be recognised, the Network of Young Women Leaders are call- ing for the participation of young women in political and leader- ship roles, the Migrant Women Association Malta promotes the empowerment of migrant women and Occupy Justice is a female-led movement calling for justice that emerged after Caruana Galizia's assassination," Camilleri agrees. At the end of the day, women are vital, not only because they carry children, not only because they are your wives, your sisters, or your daughters, but also because they are human beings, and so women's rights are human rights. A feminist is a person who be- lieves in equal rights and that men are not more powerful, intelligent or entitled than women. Femi- nists believe that no matter one's sex, sexual orientation, job or interests, everyone deserves the same rights. "History shows that we need to shake the tree," Sammut says. "Change may require temporary positive measures, a topic that is now thankfully on the national political agenda." And the tree was indeed shaken in 2017 – a year which was a stir- ring pot of change, travesty and resilience. With the growing active par- ticipation of women and the in- creasing number of voices speak- ing out, 2018 promises further exciting development, paving the way for the upcoming young gen- eration of women to carry on the fight. MARIA PACE Clockwise, left to right: Women march in Valletta in a rare feminist demonstration demanding equal treatment; Democratic Party MP Marlene Farrugia: her passion is denigrated as hysteria; women from the Occupy Justice movement camp out on the steps of Castille after the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia, demanding the resignation of the Commissioner for Police and the Attorney General PHOTO JAMES BIANCHI