What might have appeared to be a good idea on paper, has unfortunately been exposed to leave much to be desired. I am referring to the gender-quota mechanism which last election was triggered to balance out the gender imbalance in Parliament. The 2022 general election was the first time such a mechanism was used in Malta, to supposedly grant Parliament better representation, resulting in 12 women securing a seat in the House of Representatives.

The debate on the subject resurfaced this week with President of the European Union Roberta Metsola as well as sitting MP Claudette Buttigieg coming out rather vociferously against the mechanism.

In fact Metsola said that the mechanism was an insult to women, as it assumed that they needed to be helped to be elected, while Buttigieg went as far as declaring openly that she wouldn't allow the mechanism to be used for her election. Possibly by the time of printing more will join the choir of disapproval.

Personally I cannot but agree with the observations put forward by these two politicians whom I admire. The gender quota mechanism possibly does more damage than good.

The biggest victims of the mechanism are women themselves. We have seen how in the last election the electorate chose to vote less for women than usual, knowing that a good number of them would be elected to Parliament anyway. This was very evident as previously successful; politicians such as Claudette Buttigieg herself, who had absolutely no trouble being elected to Parliament before, having to rely on the mechanism to find herself a seat. Obviously I am singling out Claudette since she spoke out about it. There were many more female politicians who suffered the same fate, and I salute Claudette for the courage to speak out the way she did.

Being elected through such a mechanism can be rather demeaning against women, as it is an assumption that women need a crutch to rest on, in order to succeed. It is the kind of positive discrimination that backfires entirely and has a patronising undertone.

I also find issue with how the mechanism only takes into account the major parties from our political landscape and ignores completely third parties all together. If we really want to strive for better representation in Parliament we should also consider other mechanisms that truly guarantee a full spectrum of voices in the country's highest institution no matter the gender.

Unfortunately female representation leaves a great deal to be desired. There are endless reasons as to why this is, many of which can be traced to our recent socio-political past. However we cannot accept this. Something does need to be done to address this imbalance, yet unfortunately, the gender quota mechanism is not the solution.

We must nurture a complete cultural shift in favour of female representation. We have valid, talented and determined women who can really make a difference in our political fora. We must find the ways how women can surpass the hurdles that hinder their political success. We must address these issues, and find tangible solutions that deliver results without being patronising towards women.

I wish the readers of this paper, the very best for Easter.

Alexander Mangion is Deputy Mayor of Attard