Women face a plethora of challenges in Malta, and it is easy to see how they can be under-represented in politics.  It recently it came to my attention that the Prime Minister was once again talking about gender quotas, this time in Lisbon, where he was heckled by MEP Ana Gomes. I appreciate the fact that, inadvertently, the heckling highlighted aspects of the Prime Minister’s speech which would otherwise have been lost to public attention. It seems that gender quotas for women in Parliament are on the immediate horizon.

However, if we truly want our citizens to be happy, engaged and successful and at peace with themselves and one another, then we have to be very careful about how we fight for further rights. There is a world of difference between equality of opportunity, and equality of outcome. Equality of opportunity is providing people with the things they need to succeed, and not allowing them to suffer due to discrimination or bias. On the other hand, equality of outcome is all about deciding for oneself how society should function and what it should look like, and then trying to engineer society to end up that way.

Equality of outcome is not about quality, or about fairness – it is about a very flawed conception of social justice. Therefore, let me make it clear that gender quotas for Parliament would be a counter-productive and short-sighted strategy to bring about a better situation for women in Malta. Fairness would be thrown away as would meritocracy, in favour of a perceived ideal context.

There is nothing inherently superior about being a man or being a woman. It is all about the health of one’s society and the freedom, dignity and success of the individual as a member of society. The gender composition of Parliament is going to change over time depending on a number of factors which do not need to be artificially engineered. What we should keep doing is ensuring that women have all the respect, tools and resources they need to be elected.

That is why I like Miriam Dalli’s LEAD initiative, whereby female candidates are trained and encouraged and given everything needed to contest and win elections, on the same footing as men. Such initiatives are extremely welcome – wherever they come from – to empower, educate and bolster the success of women in politics. The female MPs we have at the moment are all there purely on their own merit. The Hon. Marlene Farrugia was one of the first female politicians to come out strongly against gender quotas, as they would ultimately make it seem as if women cannot get anywhere under their own steam, just as current MPs have done.

LEAD is the opposite of gender quotas. It is about equality of opportunity, rather than equality of outcome, which would undermine the principles of meritocracy. It is crucial that we guarantee the same opportunities in life for everybody, and that nobody has to face irrational discrimination in any facet of their lives. The fight for human rights is indeed ever ongoing, and I will continue to champion a healthier democratic atmosphere and freedom of expression for all. It is for that reason that I am frustrated that, once again, the Prime Minister is promising things he perceives to make sense politically, but which will in reality hurt the country and its people.

 

Timothy Alden is the Deputy Leader of Partit Demokratiku