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JOSIE AHRENS 07/05/02
Student of the Maltese School of Adelaide
It seems that women throughout history, in every culture and every land, have been treated as second class citizens. Unfortunately in Malta, there is nothing different. Women have been the objects of such superstitions as having been given the devil's poisonous tongue from the time of St Paul who removed the venom from snakes.
In ancient times however, the Goddess of Fertility was of course female and highly revered. This is of little consolation for the human species of more modern times. Thankfully things are changing slowly.
However I find little solace in the fact that in Maltese "female" is the same word as "'wife" (il-mara). It is like the Australian equivalent "the wife" (an object) - what is wrong with "my wife? The latter shows a degree of respect.
More Maltese women are finding gainful paid employment these days. They can retain their maiden name and also apply for a credit card in their own right. Child care for the very young children is difficult to find although I think the answer is not so much to provide free or cheap child care, but to recognise the great contribution mothers do in raising their young children and pay a stay-at-home allowance until the child enters school age.
(Unless of course the father can fill in the roll of child carer during this time). Maternity leave is more common now but more needs to be done in the are of flexi hours and job sharing to allow young mothers to continue their role as mother and career woman.
Malta is seeing more women enter politics and journalism, law, medicine and managerial positions. However, it is under tough circumstances and more women are needed to lead the way.
There are in fact less female politicians now than in 1951. This has come about perhaps because the political parties reject female candidates. The fault does not lie with the voters because since1947, in twelve elections, females have secured 23 victories which represents 23% success rate out of 3.89% of candidacy's given to women. In comparison, the male success rate is 25% of male candidates.
So women on the ballot paper have about the same success rate as men don't hold to the argument that women should be encouraged to leave childcare to some one else whilst they pursue a "career". I believe women (if they desire) can achieve both, with the cooperation of their spouse, employer and government and recognition of the vital role of motherhood and childcare.
Women should not have to have up a career to take care of an infant or toddler but may need to put it "on hold" for short periods. Of course this is not always feasible and her spouse may need to fill the roll of child-care. This is where the government should also recognise the contribution of fatherhood.
In the past mostly unmarried women were the ones who were successful in politics for e.g. Agatha Barbara and Mabel Strickland. Others were assisted in entering politics though family connections for e.g. Carmen Sant and Giovanna Debono.
Exhange is occurring in Malta due to the drop in the birth rate since 1947. The economy is growing and more women are entering the labour market. Forty per cent of the University students are now female.
The legal system is abolishing discrimination against women. These are all good indicators that positive reforms in favour of women are taking place. Let's hope that there is also a change in culture to elevate women to the same status as men in every area of life.
All my life I have lived and grown up with Maltese women spanning three generations and each of these generations has had an enormous impact on my life. I have always been taught and bought up in Australia with the belief that both men and women do not deserve respect but they are rightfully and equally entitled to equal respect. However, the article Women in Malta paints a totally different picture highlighting that this has not always been the case and even today, there are still some equality problems facing women in Malta.
Some of the most startling statistics that the article highlights regarding women in Malta is that when the article was written, Malta had "the lowest percentage of women legislators of any European country." As an Australian and seeing a large number of women in parliament on a daily basis on the news, such a fact shocks me as alarming, backwards and most of all unequal.
The article goes on to list reasons why this is the case stating, "shortages if places on the ballot for women to be placed" as one excuse. However, the problem is greater than this or the "hostile" reaction women candidates in Malta receive. It is greater than money or politics, It is culture. For years in many European countries, in fact globally the main reason women have found it difficult to gain equal rights with men is because of the constricting forces of tradition and culture and in Malta it is no different.
The role for women in years gone by was to simply have as many children as they could, look after the house and make sure dinner was on the table when the man came home from work. Women were constricted in trying to make a name for themselves in business or politics, as such a move would have been frowned upon by many of the traditionalist Maltese. It is these people who solely saw the women is role in life as housewives and the man's job to deal with the running of the country. As this unequal tradition was passed down from generation to generation many women gave up hope of running for a place in the local council or even having the right to vote.
Yet, because of the bravery shown by women to break down these restrictive, traditional "laws" women now have an equal say in the running of most things in the world today. Such bravery can be seen through the lives of Maltese women such as Giovanna Debono and Anna Bonanno who have taking giant leaps in promoting women in politics and the media. It is because of women like Debono and Bonanno that today the gender population in universities is 50-50, women are being paid equally for jobs in the workforce and a growing number of candidates are being elected not only in local councils but also the national political stage.
With advances to bridge the gender gap coming closer and closer due to the work of a growing number of concerned people, hopefully by the time the next generations reads such an article as Women in Malt the statistics are ancient news. Also, hopefully by then equality is not only found in gender but also race, creed and religion not just in Malta but globally.
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