It is difficult for women to make it on their own in politics, although some do, the Chairperson of the Technical Committee for the Strengthening of Democracy said in an interview with The Malta Independent.

Carmen Sammut was speaking with reference to the consultation document about gender balance in Parliament, put forward by this technical committee. Four proposals were presented in this document and were put for public consultation.

The general argument put forward by many against positive measures for women is why women should be given an extra push and why are they not capable enough to do it on their own.

Sammut noted that the women who make it on their own, not because of someone in the family in politics or because there was a gap in their district, is not enough for a critical mass, which is 30 to 33 percent representation.

“In the present circumstances, some will make it on their own but till now experience has shown us that it is difficult.” With the additional 12 seats in Parliament, as proposed in the document, the representation would already be at 28 percent.

Sammut said there are women who say these proposals are “insulting” but probably they are not conscious of the problems. “What is insulting is when you look at the ranking of the inter-parliamentary union we are slipping down continuously. We are now in 150th place.”

The reason for this is that, whilst other countries moved forward with positive measures, we remained stuck at the same level. “This is embarrassing,” Sammut noted.

The process started about a year ago when the technical committee was established. The committee is formed from a number of people with different expertise, including from the legal profession, mathematicians and constitutional consultants.

The committee put forward the consultation document on March 26, 2019. The initial problem the committee faced was whether to put forward a detailed document, which might end up being too technical, which is what happened. On the other hand, putting forward a document which was too brief, based on principles, which in her opinion Sammut noted, would have nothing concrete and too much speculation.

During the consultation period, which took 10 and half weeks, a longer time than usual because of the MEP and local council elections, the committee met with a lot of people to provide an understanding of the four principles presented in the document.

Sammut said that the committee started off last March with an exhibition in Parliament about women in politics in the history of Malta. “We started off with this as even the members of parliament were not conscious enough of the problem.”

We have to look back at Maltese history, Sammut said, noting that it has been 72 years since Maltese women were given the right to vote and contest an election. Over these years, only 26 women have been elected in total and the percentage of women in Parliament has remained the same.

In 1950, around 10 percent of parliament was made up of women and today we are still only at 14.5 percent. “On its own, with our system, we are not going to get there,” Sammut said, referring to increasing the number of women in politics.

Just last week, there was a gender expert from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)who said with this system another 100 years will pass by and little progress would be made. The Organisation for Security and Cooperation feel that without the presence of women we could never have security and cooperation in Europe, Sammut noted.

When it is debated why there are few women in politics, many times the women are blamed. “Blamed for not contesting the elections, for not participating in party politics. We shifted the onus onto existing structures.”

Sammut noted that these structures include Parliament itself, the Electoral Commission and the political parties.

The first proposal is gender mainstreaming in Parliament and family-friendly measures. Gender mainstreaming means that gender needs to be taken into consideration when new laws and policies are passed. Policies like bullying and harassment need to be included.

There also needs to be enough women in the committees and as chairpersons, Sammut noted.

The Speaker needs to set up a commission to look into the details on how these policies and legislation should be implemented, she added. This proposal is one which most agree to, even the Opposition, and could be implemented quickly.

Sammut also said that the new Parliament has no childcare facilities, and parliamentary work is only part-time. When the political job is part-time, you have to also have another job and perhaps a family to take care of, which “is nearly impossible,” Sammut said, especially when “housework most of the time has to be done by the woman.”

Although some men do their part in domestic tasks, Sammut said the responsibility generally lies with the woman. Taking care of the family and children is mostly done by the woman too because of the culture we have, she added.

The structures we have revolve around a traditional family setup, “we are looking back instead of forward,” she said, adding that “they assume that the politicians have someone who is cooking, taking care of the children, ironing shirts, which is not the reality of most women.”

Another aspect of the political culture that holds women back is that local politics are very aggressive. Sammut explains that aggressiveness is present between the political parties because of their polarisation. “Women may be more reluctant to expose their children to certain attacks. This is reality.”

Sammut said that when the committee met people who were potential candidates many expressed this issue. When asked if men face the same problem, Sammut said that previous PN MP, David Stellini had recently mentioned it.

“It could also be the case that this is keeping men of a certain quality back,” Sammut said, adding that “it could be politics is more macho.”

There are also not many female role models in politics for women to look up to, Sammut noted, adding that even a mentoring system is missing. It is not just about going out for politics but being elected, she explains.

"We have a patriarchal society in Malta but it is also changing quickly,” Sammut said. There are certain expectations for women in Malta in terms of the family but if structures and measures change, to make it more possible for women to enter politics, then it could change.

When asked if these proposals could change the cultural patriarchal society, Sammut commented that just waiting around to change a culture could take between 50 to 100 years. Social change can be brought about by an organic change from the base, but also from above, with political changes. And this is what the proposals are aiming to do.

The political climate seems to be right, with the Prime Minister seeming committed to this issue, she added.

Sammut noted that any previous and current political leader in Malta is sure to have been confronted abroad about the lack of women in Parliament. Becoming part of the EU is not just being in Brussels and getting funds, Sammut noted but is also about the people.

Throughout the years the Church has also had a big influence in Malta, Sammut explained. When women were first allowed to vote the biggest opposition came from the Church. They used to believe that this would diminish society in Malta.

She did say that Archbishop Paul Cremona did start a silent revolution and the tone of the Church’s preachings regarding the women’s place in society is starting to change.  The Church played a major part in the cultural patriarchal traditions in Malta although now secularisation happening.

These proposals intend to "jump start" the system, with the second proposal being aimed at political parties, Sammut said. Incentives in the form of state funding will be given to political parties to enhance the recruitment and mentoring of women. Sammut explained that many times the parties say they do not find women to contest the elections but this not true.

Two months before an election the list of candidates in each district is issued and they notice they do not have women representation in a particular district. They then find a woman who is loyal to the party and get her to contest without her being prepared, which results in her getting negligible votes.

Sammut stressed this is not a handout to the parties but there will be gender audits and it will be funded through European funds. If the audits show there is no progress than the parties will not continue to be given the funds.

When asked who will be receiving the state funding, if the small parties will also be given it, Sammut said the proposal document did not specify the level of participation but in the proposals received this was raised, even by the main parties. This still needs to be considered further and it is only at the implementation stage.

Another proposal is the extended remits of the electoral commission. At the moment the electoral commission is made up of men, Sammut noted, so it needs to become more representative. She explained that it is not about getting half the men and replacing them with women.

"This is a highly technical commission so the person needs to know how the electoral process works," Sammut explained, adding she was told, "what women would be interested in doing it?" She replied that there are women who are interested in such roles as they were approached by many.

The most "difficult" proposal is for 12 additional seats for the under-represented sex, which would require a constitutional change. This proposal cannot be done before the next election, in another three years, which by then Sammut hopes the other three proposals will already have had some impact.

Once the 40 percent representation is reached this proposal will no longer apply, Sammut explained. When asked if the PN agreed to this, Sammut said they put forward a position paper and that overall the principle of positive measures was positively regarded.

The first in line to the House will be “hanging candidates” from the under-represented sex who were the last to be eliminated in the proportional representation system of electing MPs.

Next, wasted votes of hanging candidates from the over-represented sex who were not elected will be utilised to elect a candidate of the under-represented sex. If the desired target is still not achieved, the wasted votes of handing candidates from both sexes which however were elected through a casual election will be utilised to elect a candidate of the under-represented sex.

Sammut insisted this is not a quota as incumbents will not be stopped from being elected, but additional seats. As the women representation starts to increase these additional seats will decrease. If 20 years the balance is not achieved a “sunset clause” applies.

After 20 years, Parliament would need to decide if this measure is still necessary and if it is the law needs to be re-passed. This is included to allow for future generations to decide and not to impose on them. The technical committee believes that the balance will always be achieved with this proposal but politicians, which in the end need to pass the reform, felt more comfortable with this clause.

During the consultation period, there was a joint deceleration that was signed by 19 women’s organisations that all agreed in principle that this jump-start is necessary.

When asked why representation should be based on only gender and not, for example, on age or LGTBIQ representation, Sammut said that the most glaring lack of representation is with women.individuals who identify as gender neutral will be added to whichever of the two sexes is under-represented.

The basic premise, Sammut notes is that you either believe in gender representation or you do not. If you do not there are several excuses that can be found not to implement it.