International Women’s day seeks to celebrate women’s success in all spheres of life and to promote equality between men and women. Malta is certainly not at the forefront of female representation in Parliament. Regrettably, Malta is trailing behind 151 countries which include Italy, Croatia, Cyprus, Morocco, Egypt, Turkey, Algeria and Morocco. 

However, we must ask ourselves, why do we have such a low rate of women representatives in parliament?? Is it because Maltese women cannot seem to imagine themselves in executive positions? During carnival, I observed how the vast majority of girls were dressed as princesses or fairies granting wishes to everyone. It is funny how in their childhood girls are often dressed as fairytale characters portraying powerful and privileged positions and yet this image fades away as they grow up and find their place in society.

Women sincerely interested in politics are a species I have come across with only recently through the Lead programme organised by the Labour Party spearheaded by Dr Miriam Dalli.

One of Lead’s most important contributions to my life personally, was to meet some great women which have now become friends. Just speaking to them makes me feel stronger.

Lead participants are women from all walks of life who are interested in entering the world of politics and making their voice heard.

Through the Lead programme I have learnt that the greatest hurdle faced by most women is public speaking and appearing on television. Although some of us did have some experience speaking in public, we still felt ill-prepared to do so.  For many years we also had very few reference points or role models whom to emulate as political female representation on television was also scarce.

The Lead programme took the bull by its horns and sought to make us ready to speak confidently in public by asking us to prepare speeches and we were given feedback accordingly. Trust me, the feedback was not always easy to digest.  We had to prepare discussions on subjects which were not necessarily our area of competence such as the legislation of recreational cannabis or the war in Syria. We were guided on the best approach to the discussion as well focusing on voice tone, posture and avoiding giving compromising sound bites.

All this was also coupled with lectures about the parliamentary process, international politics, economics as well as developing a convincing marketing strategy. Best practices on how to set up and conduct a political campaign both on and off line were also delved into at long lengths.

Can we say that this is the perfect recipe towards achieving greater female participation in politics? Well my answer is no. There still remain many barriers.

A very serious obstacle to female participation in politics is the lack of family support. Women find it natural to support their partner embarking on new projects but men do not always like living in the shadow of their partner. This does not apply to everyone of course but it is a reality that one must acknowledge. Lack of support can also come from other members of the family who do not trust that you will have any success and indirectly tell you that you are wasting your time. Kids many times also do not accept their mothers being away from home to take care of their political campaign. Family support is essential and people around persons interested in politics should encourage rather than demotivate.

Finding a balance between work and a political career is also an enormous challenge. Female employment is dominated by education and health services which are dominated by public sector employment. Strict rules on political involvement and public service employment do not allow many persons from taking an active role in politics without losing their full-time employment. Working with the private sector does not make life much easier unless you own the business. Again, women are not well-represented on boards of directors of local companies which can be another cause of low female participation in politics.

Infiltrating town party structures is still not an easy feat as most are guarded by men who are comfortable with the current status quo and are adverse to any change. During our last Lead session, we had the opportunity to speak with the Prime Minister and give him feedback about our experience. He also spoke about his own stuggle to change things in such structures Likewise building a team is not easy as male counterparts are perceived as more likely to succeed and therefore worth investing in.

During our last Lead session, Dr Muscat encouraged us to be persistent as that was the only way to move forward. It is my belief that  Dr Muscat is the only  Prime Minister who underlines that the current underrepresentation of women in politics is  unacceptable and is taking concrete actions to  reach a more balanced situation. In reality,it is society as a whole which needs to take example from Dr Muscat’s approach and do their part to achieve greater female political representation.

Fleur Vella is a Labour Party MEP Candidate