Who is Parliament really serving?

Parity in political representation is fundamentally a democratic issue. For example, Spain boasts a cabinet of ministers that comprises eight women and eight men, making this one of the best percentages achieved on women's representation in a national government anywhere in the world.

However, the Spanish experience is rare. The world's average for women in national parliaments stood at 15.2 % in 2003. Moreover, comparative analysis of women's participation in national legislative bodies reveals under-representation in countries that include Australia, Finland, France, Germany, Spain, Sweden and the UK. The levels of women's parliamentary representation, in all seven countries, range from 42.7 % in Sweden to 10.9 % in France.

Much of this variation can be accounted for in terms of the differing political systems and party strategies in operation. For example, it has taken the UK 84 years, from when women were allowed to vote in 1918, to reach a parliamentary representation of 18.2 %, indeed, a level that undermines representation itself.

Similarly, it has taken Malta almost 60 years, from when women were given voting rights in 1947, to reach a 9.2 % parliamentary representation in the 2003 general elections. The first woman to be elected to the Maltese parliament was in 1947 and she was later nominated President of Malta in 1982. Twenty years on, no Maltese woman has held a similar position.

Studies which explore factors that determine patterns of gender selection suggest that, despite similar qualifications, experience, and motivations for standing for parliament, women experience prejudice and bias, and few are selected.

Discrimination is a significant phenomenon in the selection process, with the levels of reported discrimination varying according to political party. Indeed, political parties are the crucial channels to elected office, and they guard jealously their monopoly over the selection of candidates.

Although voters have the final say about who becomes a member of the legislature, they make their choice only after political parties have limited the options. Repeated studies of gender and voting indicate that men's predominance among elected representatives is not the result of voting in general elections, but of party nomination practices that determine the composition of elected assemblies.

Thus, much of the explanation of the male dominance of legislatures and governments that characterises Western European politics results from party decisions about who their candidates will be. In this sense, it is parties, not voters, who determine the composition of elected assemblies.

For instance, although women constitute more than half the electorate in Malta, their presence in the House of Representatives has never been higher than the 1951 figure of ten %.

Today, of the 65 members of parliament, only six are women, and at 9.2 % in 2004, women's representation in the House is currently the third lowest among those in national parliaments of EU member states.

The number of women contesting Malta's 2003 general elections was 22 alongside 156 men. There was then only one woman elected to minister, and another to the post of parliamentary secretary. However, as a result of a Cabinet reshuffle in 2004, Malta today has a second woman minister, with an "appropriate" portfolio that includes gender equality, social housing and family and children.

In parallel, the only woman nominated to the post of parliamentary secretary serves within the ministry of health, the elderly and community care. A UN study signals that once women are at decision-making levels, the question becomes one of avoiding the creation of a new sexual division of labour, as traditionally, women have been put in leadership-ghettos responsible for social areas but not economic or political ones.

Studies signal that while many women MPs believe it is necessary to establish a woman's presence in the more prestigious specialisations, such as economic and foreign affairs, they have typically been led to the "less prestigious areas" that reflect women's assumed roles, interests and expertise.

However, the distinction between high and low prestige issues should, indeed, be challenged, as areas of specialisation close to women's interests account for the largest share of public expenditure. Indeed, Malta's financial allocation for health, education and social policy accounts for substantially high estimates in recurrent and capital expenditure.

Only when the gender balance of our national legislature reflects more accurately than the current composition of our society is there likely to be real integration of equality issues into government policy making. Writings suggest that it is necessary for women to have other woman talk about experiences and interests understood only by them, and with the increased presence of women should come substantial changes in institutions, priorities and the political culture.

For example, issues of gender equality when it comes to paid work, income, care and time have difficulty finding their place on the political agenda, under conditions of women's low representation in politics.

While in an ideal world, women should be selected in proportion to their numbers based on the general principles of democracy, in reality this does not happen automatically. Positions on party lists are scarce political goods and are often considered a reward for past performance. The selectors themselves tend to be men, who have worked their way up. The issue is, how can the results of past discrimination be overcome?

Scholars argue that the use of hard positive action strategies has had a significant effect on the proportion of women elected to office. As evidenced from the high levels of women's representation in Norway, Denmark and Sweden, the most effective measure to overcome the gender imbalance in European political parties is quotas.

The UK Equal Opportunities Commission suggests that quotas for women and positive action have a positive impact on female representation and are an essential part of a wider strategy to increase women's representation in politics.

Underlying the quota policy is that targets should be used as floors, below which women's representation is not allowed to fall, rather than ceilings above which it cannot rise. Although designed as a temporary measure to overcome imbalances existing between women and men, Malta is divided over the quota strategy and opponents claim they are discriminatory, promote token women and undermine the ethos of equality.

It should be noted that within British party politics arguments for the equality approach without positive discrimination have largely failed to increase the representation of women. On the other hand, positive discrimination strategies and the process of adopting all-women shortlists succeeded in doubling the proportion of women MPs in Britain's 1997 general election.

Parties of the left or centre have introduced quotas earlier and more often have parties of the right. For instance, the quota system was introduced in Malta by the Labour party in 1997. However, the positive discrimination policy was shortlived, as the party was overthrown within its first two years in office.

As early as 1979, the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women restated the provisions adopted in the Convention on the Political Rights of Women in 1952, "whereby women are guaranteed the rights to vote, to hold public office and to exercise public functions."

Indeed, Malta's ratification of the Convention in 1991 commits government to "take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women in the political and public life of the country."

Moreover, women's representativeness of political institutions would improve radically if the Council of Europe were to turn recommendation into directive to member states, to increase representation in Europe itself, and in national and local assemblies.

Admittedly, there is no single policy option that works in every situation, for every party, in every country. However, is Malta willing to look abroad for lessons in achieving a more balanced representation of women and men in public politics in a truly democratic legislature?

At this point in time, who is Parliament really serving?

Dr Camilleri-Cassar is a social scientist with special research interest in welfare states and gender regimes, and the social policy implications of EU expansion for the labour market. Her doctoral thesis is a forthcoming 'Agenda' publication titled "Gender Equality in Maltese Social Policy? Graduate Women and the Male Breadwinner Model" ISBN 99932-672-3-6. E-mail: frances.camilleri-cassar@um.edu.mt