Parliament on Monday paid tribute to Anne Agius Ferrante, one of Malta’s first trailblazing female MPs who passed away earlier this month at the age of 97.

The daughter of a former attorney general, Sir Philip Pullicino, Agius Ferrante was elected on the PN ticket in 1980 in a casual election, following the death of former prime minister Ġorġ Borg Olivier, and remained in Parliament until the next general election in 1981.

She was the PN’s first ever female MP.

PN leader Bernard Grech said that Agius Ferrante was a “treasure”, and added that in the political world she was known as a female MP who won her seat at a time when it was difficult for women to enter the political world.

“Society at the time believed that a woman’s place was at home, and therefore Anne’s effort to reach Parliament involved more than others – so much so, she couldn’t find canvassers to work for her.  It was difficult for a woman to win the faith of the people,” Grech said.

He said that Agius Ferrante showed that one shouldn’t give up but should persist in their beliefs.  He said that her belief in herself gave courage to many other women who wanted to take a more active role in society and in running the country.

“She was instrumental for more women to get into politics,” Grech said.

He said that Agius Ferrante used to work for families and their biggest issues and fought for Malta’s accession to the EU and remained active in public life. 

He noted that she lost her husband at an early age, but put more energy into the upbringing of her children; something she did with success.

He concluded that she was a woman of strong values, who was respected by many, and whose talents were a joy to watch being enjoyed by those around her, and sent the PN’s condolences to her family, who were watching on in Parliament’s spectator’s gallery.

Deputy Prime Minister Chris Fearne meanwhile said that while he did not know her personally, his one political interaction with her had shown him that she was a woman “who knew what she believed in and defended it strongly.”

This particular episode, he recounted, was when he headed the Labour Party’s youth branch at the start of the 1980s and had presented a motion at the party’s general conference to introduce divorce in Malta.

Agius Ferrante, Fearne said, was one of the people who was fervently against it. “That day, my impression was that she was a woman who didn’t shy away from saying what she believed in and was a person who strongly backed her opinions,” Fearne said.

Fearne’s motion back then ultimately hadn’t passed and divorce was only implemented some 30 years later.

He described Agius Ferrante as one of the pioneers of women in Parliament in Malta, and was the first women to be elected to represent the PN when she took George Borg Olivier’s seat in a by-election in 1980.

He said that had she and the other women in Parliament at the time – Agatha Barbara and Evelyn Bonaci – looked at Parliament a year and a half ago, they would have seen that not much would have changed in terms of female representation.

But today, he said, after the work of both sides together, the situation is different, with both genders being closer to being balanced.

He praised Agius Ferrante for the social causes she was involved in, including the Malta Girl Guides, and sent condolences to her family on the Labour Party’s behalf.

Speaker Anglu Farrugia meanwhile shared a booklet of Agius Ferrante’s speeches, saying that these speeches show her true character, as she spoke with compassion about subjects such as illnesses, medical research, pensions, and the Save the Children fund.