The female brain drain

It is indeed a broad generalisation when it is declared that "women are their own worst enemies". Certainly, one cannot put all women in one category. But, undeniably, there are women who, in their zeal to speak and write about issues concerning women's lives, and in their enthusiasm to please their political masters, harm the very cause they are trying to promote.

A case in point was a piece written by a member of the Nationalist Party executive committee, Caroline Galea, commenting on a previous article by the leader of the Opposition, Charles Mangion. Both articles were titled Women in the Economy.

Ms Galea states that: "If there is one skill that can be safely attributed to females it is that of survival and I challenge any male ready to comment on female issues to question our extraordinary prowess at surviving..."

In order to get to the point where our country uses all the human resources available and so that we are able to put an end to the hidden - but very much felt - female brain drain, where women's skills are underutilised, we need everybody on board: men and women. There is no way that we will climb from the bottom rung of the EU list when it comes to female participation in the labour market if we try to go it alone. And thus, the confrontational attitude Ms Galea adopts - "I challenge any man ready to comment on female issues" - is unwarranted. Challenge? We need the cooperation of as many people as possible on this national problem.

"Question our extraordinary prowess at surviving"? Bombastic expression aside, who is questioning women's prowess (sic) at surviving? It is an acknowledged fact that we, consciously or not, have a predisposition towards arming ourselves and our offspring with the necessary survival skills. So who's questioning that? Antagonism against men who are bothered to raise problems related to issues concerning women's participation in the labour market will not get us anywhere.

We have had enough men undo what existed as structures to bring about and support initiatives in this area of concern. A parliamentary secretariat for women's rights was dismantled, a department for gender equality was abandoned for the set-up of a Commission for the Promotion of Equality which has now been diluted to incorporate race, ethnic origin and disability, besides gender equality. This situation has been developing in a context where the EU Commission boasts of the Committee for Women's Rights and several EU member states, that are listed way ahead of us, have ministerial structures specifically responsible for women. I wonder what representations, if any, the National Commission has made in this regard when its responsibilities were spread to include other forms of discrimination besides those resulting from a lack of gender equality. This when the commission was already - when it was only dealing with gender equality - complaining that it did not have enough resources to do its work properly.

Moreover, with the closing down of the department responsible for the promotion of gender equality, we ended up with a national commission that serves both as a regulatory body and an implementing structure. No wonder Malta remains at the bottom of the list.

So we have ended up without a strong set-up to see to issues concerning women's rights and women's contribution to the economy. And no woman from the PN chose to challenge her government for all this. Then a male member of Parliament raises the issue and a female supporting the party which has sidelined this important matter of low female participation in the labour market, "challenges" him. Rich indeed. This when for years Nationalist governments have been talking and talking of their policy of gender mainstreaming and how it's being implemented in promoting gender equality and women's full participation in society.

It is a fact that Maltese women are also suffering indirectly in their professional emancipation as a result of the lack of meritocracy existing in the country against anyone - men and women - suspected of social democratic convictions. Were we not promised the filling in of state posts through a call for applications? Has not this promise been ignored with direct appointments making qualified women also victims of the inner circle syndrome? Perhaps Ms Galea can try to address this issue which has brainwashed normal citizens into believing that they are living in an apartheid as far as merit is concerned.

Mrs Dalli is a sociologist and a Labour member of Parliament.