A letter sent to married women by the anti-divorce movement explaining why they should vote no at Saturday’s referendum is “an insult to women’s intelligence”, according to the Labour leader’s wife, Michelle Muscat.
Speaking during a pro-divorce activity in Ħamrun, Ms Muscat said she was disgusted by the personalised letters and could not understand why they were only sent to women as if to imply women needed help deciding.
Mrs Muscat, who is openly in favour of divorce legislation “in the name of tolerance”, also criticised the anti-divorce movement for making it look as though it was only men who left their wives.
The letter, a copy of which was seen by The Times, is signed by anti-divorce movement members Joyce Cassar and Anna Vella.
It says that, according to the proposed legislation, a man can just leave his wife and file for divorce without giving her a reason.
The letter also says children will suffer and the husband would no longer be obliged to pay maintenance. It calls on women to vote against the abandonment of women and against hurting children.
When asked about the letters, a spokesman for the anti-divorce movement said they were sent as part of a much wider campaign to explain, in simple terms, the negative effects of no-fault divorce. This was common practice in similar campaigns.
“Throughout the past weeks, the movement also distributed other printed material and placed a number of adverts in the print media to help inform people,” he said.
Pro-divorce movement leader Deborah Schembri yesterday urged those who believed there should be divorce to vote on Saturday. The anti -divorce movement was backed by a very powerful institution – the Church – and they planned on making sure all those against divorce would vote, she said.
“Those people who vote no are not realising they are depriving others of a better life. By voting yes you are giving people a choice... People can use divorce if they need to and want to. It will not be imposed on anyone... People have a right to live a civil and serene life,” she said.
Divorce did not break up families. They would have been broken four years earlier, she said.
Dr Schembri reiterated that before obtaining a divorce a couple had to be separated for four years. Separation proceedings would go into issues of blame, maintenance and custody and contract would remain valid for divorce purposes. This meant the anti-campaign was wrong to say the proposed legislation would lead to divorce with no reason. The reason would be determined at separation stage and, if the couple did not go through separation proceedings, it would be worked into the divorce proceedings.
She said that if the no vote won, she would be disappointed but would accept the will of the majority.
“If the yes wins you will first hear me shouting from the four corners of Malta... I will finally be able to let out all the tension I’m keeping bottled up inside,” she joked.