Women's presence in Parliament can be increased by encouraging more females to contest the elections rather than by introducing a gender quota, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi believes.

"When we talk about Parliament I'm always very careful about quotas because this is a democratic process where people have to exercise their choice and they have to do it freely. Imposing a quota on people is actually limiting the choice of the electorate, which we have to be very careful about," he said.

He explained that he recently came across a study showing the success rate of male and women candidates was the same.

A study by US professor John Lane, who followed Maltese elections over the years, concluded that once women were elected by their own party to contest the elections their success rate was no different from that of their male counterparts.

"So what we need to do in politics is increase the number of candidates. If we do that I'm quite sure we'll have an increase in the number of female MPs," Dr Gonzi said.

Consensus on the introduction of temporary female quotas seemed to have been reached for the first time on Monday during a seminar organised by the General Workers' Union to mark Women's Day.

Several speakers at the seminar, most of them women, reluctantly agreed the quota was a necessary evil that would help address the poor participation of women in politics and public office. The speakers included representatives from the Nationalist and Labour parties.

According to the most recent World Economic Forum, Malta ranked 89th out of 134 countries on the Equality Index because of the poor participation of women in the job market and politics.

Only six of the 69 MPs are women, making it a nine per cent participation rate. Anna Borg, from the University's Centre for Labour Studies, told the seminar research showed that for a group to be properly represented there had to be at least a 30 per cent participation rate.

"My position has always been that, in principle, I would like to avoid quotas," Dr Gonzi said.

He added: "But if different initiatives are not giving us the result we need then, in some circumstances, it is worth considering the introduction of quotas... I think every political party should insist on having a specific amount of female candidates."

He stressed that people should never forget that the criteria for election should be ability and competence.

He admitted that, although the female participation rate in the job market had improved over the past years, Malta was still lagging behind.

Recent Eurostat figures showed women's participation in the job market increased by 4.2 per cent since 2005. But Malta still ranked last among EU countries last year. Furthermore, Malta also failed to elect any women to the European Parliament.

What women MPs think

Just six of Malta's 69 parliamentarians are women. The Times spoke to them to see what they thought about the introduction of a quota system to up the female representation in the House. While not all agreed positive discrimination should be introduced, they all encouraged more women to contest.

Dolores Cristina, PN
I don't agree with a quota system for a variety of reasons. Our electoral system, that allows single transferable votes, does not keep out women and we have a system where parties chase women to contest. We need to see more women contest as we know the success ratio of men and women is the same. So we know it is no longer a case of people not voting for women. I have yet to see whether the quota system will be accepted by the people as democratic.

Giovanna Debono, PN
In principle, I believe women should advance by their own capabilities because there are women out there who are just as capable as men. However, I'm not completely against the possibility of introducing a temporary quota system that might help capable women make it to the post. More women should come forward and contest the elections.

Marlene Pullicino, PL
I don't approve of any quota system which discriminates in favour of women or men. It might seem to solve the apparent imbalance in the short term but will backfire in the long term. Years back the same imbalance was noticeable in the main professions but women increased their participation to an admirable extent. It is the quality of the participating women that counts at this stage... the numbers will follow naturally. All we need is not to be discriminated against.

Helena Dalli, PL
I agree with the introduction of a quota until the situation improves. It seems to be the only way to have more women in Parliament unless we want to wait another 100 years. The main problem is there are not enough women candidates. A quota system may encourage more women to contest elections since, at least, they will feel they have a greater chance of getting there. There need to be family-friendly policies that help these women.

Marie Louise Coleiro Preca, PL
I agree with the introduction of temporary positive discrimination since waiting for the natural course would take too long. I feel credible on this point because I never needed a quota but I feel this does not mean other women don't. There are so many valid women out there who cannot make it for so many different reasons.

Justyne Caruana, PL
I personally feel proud I managed to get elected on my own steam. But, having said that, if we need to have a temporary quota system to encourage more women to contest the elections, why not? However, I think there also needs to be a strategy that places more women in decision-making roles as this will further encourage women to take on such posts.