On Saturday, 24th February, JEF Malta hosted another seminar in their ‘Generation Europe’ Campaign entitled ‘The Women of Europe: How Progressive Are We’? at the Phoenicia Hotel. The seminar kicked off with a panel debate, moderated by Ms. Naomi Bugre, and consisted of five key speakers; Hon. Marlene Mizzi; Hon. Roberta Metsola; Ms. Renee Laiviera; Ms. Asma Dekna; and Hon. Kristy Debono.
The hour and a half long debate saw the panellists tackling present issues, including gender quotas and the gender pay gap. In lieu of Malta having one of the lowest ratios of female MPs, the two MEPs Marlene Mizzi and Roberta Metsola, and MP Kristu Debono, slammed gender quotas. What is truly necessary, they insisted, is that parties work to have more women on their candidacy lists, and creating a better structure to facilitate and make it more realistic for women to get into politics.
Hon. Marlene Mizzi stamped quotas as “offensive to women”, saying they would reinforce gender stereotypes. She noted that while quotas could solve some problems, they still wouldn’t be enough. Hon. Kristy Debono added that quotas could potentially backfire, giving women in politics a bad name.
Contrarily, Renee Laiviera, Commissioner of the National Commission for the Promotion of Equality (NCPE), argued that in the political and decision-making sphere, Malta is considerably behind in gender equality, therefore quotas are a necessity. While noting that ideally our society would not need quotas, reality shows stereotyping keeps doors closed for young women, and we must strive to create more role models, even through gender quotas.
On the issue of gender pay gap, the panellists noted that while legislation banning pay gaps has long been in place, enforcement is not carried out. With regards to male-dominated sectors, Ms Laiviera said that segregation in the labour market starts with segregation in education, pointing out that far less females choose and are encouraged to study science subjects than their male counterparts. Ms Asma Dekna suggested we should approach the problem differently, by asking how we can have more males in female-dominated jobs, instead.
Speaking to Rebecca Zammit, the President of JEF Malta at the end of the seminar, she says the team was impressed with last Saturday’s response to the event, and are glad so many attended.
JEF Malta’s next event will be held on the 24th of March, a seminar entitled ‘Public Health; Diagnosing the Issues’. Information regarding this event will be available in the coming days.
Credits to JEF Malta for the photos.
