Four years on from its introduction, Malta's gender corrective-mechanism has placed women in the House of Representatives who would otherwise not have been there. For some, it has proved a genuine launch pad, a first foothold transformed into genuine electoral legitimacy. For others, it has provided the only way by which they could win a seat.

The system, accepted by both the Labour Party and the Nationalist Party for the 2022 election, tops up the number of women in Parliament. The goal was to increase female representation to 40% by adding women to districts instead of displacing men.

The aim was not met, on two occasions. In the past legislature, there were 23 women out of 79 MPs, or 29%. This time, there are 27, an improvement to 34%, but still below the 40% target.

That it would have been difficult for the 40% threshold to be reached was seen even before the election, as only 28% of the 162 candidates who contested were women - which underlines how little the parties had shifted their approach in the intervening four years.

And, when the votes were counted, things did not change much.

In the Labour Party, four women - Miriam Dalli, Julia Farrugia, Rosianne Cutajar, and Alison Zerafa Civelli - were elected directly. Three more - Naomi Cachia, Ramona Attard, and Rebecca Buttigieg - entered Parliament through casual elections.

Then another six - Romilda Zarb, Cressida Galea, Deborah Schembri, Fleur Abela, Francesca Zarb, and Yana Borg Debono Grech - owe their seats to the gender-corrective mechanism.

On the Nationalist side, four women were directly elected: Paula Mifsud Bonnici, Rebekah Borg, Eve Borg Bonello, and Graziella Galea; while Janice Abela Chetcuti was added to the list of elected candidates via the proportional representation clause.

One, Graziella Attard Previ, came through a casual election. Six more - Bernice Bonello, Julie Zahra, Norma Camilleri, Annabelle Muscat Cilia, Marilena Gauci, and Miriana Calleja Testaferrata de Noto - were added by the corrective mechanism.

There are some success stories. In 2022, Eve Borg Bonello joined Parliament through the corrective mechanism after having obtained only 381 first count votes. In 2026, she won her seat outright with 1,393 votes - a near fourfold increase reflecting genuine growth in voter recognition.

Paula Mifsud Bonnici, who was also elected with the gender corrective mechanism in 2022, had received 1,748 first count votes in 2022 and then returned in 2026 with 1,866, this time being elected directly.

Janice Abela Chetcuti, who received 1,204 votes in 2022, increased her 2026 tally to 1,861 votes. Rebekah Borg's rise from 1,643 votes in 2022 (elected via casual election) to 4,057 votes in 2026 (in two districts, both of which saw her being elected) makes her one of the PN's top performers.

Labour's Naomi Cachia was elected via the gender corrective mechanism in 2022 but made it through a casual election this time.

Labour's directly elected women tell a broadly positive story. Miriam Dalli remains the party's most commanding female presence - leading with the most first count votes from two districts with a total of 4,739, up from 4,661 in 2022. She was elected in both districts she contested.

Julia Farrugia increased her vote from 1,358 to 1,757 and was again directly elected. Rosianne Cutajar, who was elected via a casual election in 2022, was elected directly in 2026 with 2,692 first count votes - a clear step forward. Alison Zerafa Civelli, directly elected in 2022 with 386 votes, polled 638 in 2026 and was elected directly again. One has to keep in mind that Zerafa Civelli contested in a district as her party leader, Robert Abela.

Where the mechanism's limits become visible is in the cases that do not follow an upward arc. Cressida Galea (PL), Julie Zahra (PN) and Bernice Bonello (PN) were elected through the corrective mechanism in 2022 and returned through the same route in 2026 - four years of incumbency producing no recorded improvement in the way they got through to Parliament. Romilda Zarb (PL) was elected through the casual election in 2022 and in 2026 required the gender corrective mechanism to retain her seat, a reversal of trajectory.

Other women who entered Parliament via the corrective mechanism in 2022 did not return at all in 2026. Davinia Sammut Hili and Amanda Spiteri Grech, elected through the mechanism on the Labour side, was not elected this time round. Katya de Giovanni, who was elected through the casual election in 2022, also did not make it. In De Giovanni's case, she was not given a second chance via a casual election on the two districts she contested, as the party selected other districts in cases where candidates won two seats.

Their absence is a reminder that the mechanism guarantees nothing beyond a single term, and that incumbency without institutional backing is fragile.

Winning a seat is only part of the story. What parties do with the women elected to Parliament is at least as revealing. Of Robert Abela's current 24-member Cabinet, five are women - four ministers and one parliamentary secretary, just over one fifth of the total.

In 2022, the corrective mechanism added four women as backbenchers, one as parliamentary secretary and one as government whip. The mechanism effectively moves women through the door but not consistently to the table.

The Nationalist Party's Norma Camilleri, Annabelle Muscat Cilia, Marilena Gauci, and Miriana Calleja Testaferrata de Noto entered Parliament in 2026 as new MPs. The other two MPs elected via gender-corrective mechanism are Julie Zahra and Bernice Bonello, who had also made it through to Parliament in the same way in 2022.

The corrective mechanism was designed to serve as a temporary solution until the parties no longer required it. Four years in, neither side of the political spectrum suggests that point is approaching.

Before the 2026 election, the inequality was already present in the candidates' list. Labour had 39% female candidates, while the Nationalist Party had only 20%.

There's one other thing to consider - that the gender-mechanism process is valid only if two parties make it to Parliament. This meant that ADPD leader Sandra Gauci remained without a seat in the House even though her pro-rata vote was higher than that of other candidates who made it through to Parliament.

Gauci told this media house last week that she is considering taking the matter to court.

And, in another development, former Labour MEP Marlene Mizzi is suggesting that a candidate should only benefit from the mechanism once, saying that it is not right that there have been candidates who were elected to Parliament twice via this mechanism.

Whether the parties would be willing to change the mechanism they introduced for the 2022 election is to be seen. But we're not holding our breath.