Just three out of the 138 directors at companies listed on the Malta Stock Exchange are women, an investigation by The Times has revealed.

Listed companies are applying the old boys’ network system

The meagre figure means that female representation within Malta’s top private-company boardrooms is one-third lower than the national average of three per cent – the lowest across the entire EU.

“It’s shameful,” was the reaction of businesswoman Marlene Mizzi, who held the post of Sea Malta chairman, among other posts.

“But my guess is that listed companies are applying the old boys’ network system when appointing board members.”

Malta International Airport, Farsons and Plaza Centres are the only three listed companies with a female board member. Companies such as HSBC, Bank of Valletta, GO or Middlesea do not have a single woman on their boards.

Female representation on boards of government-owned or controlled entities appears to be much healthier. A sample of these boards, from Enemalta to Air Malta, Gozo Channel and the Malta Environment and Planning Authority, reveals 30 per cent are made up of women. The board of the Malta College for Arts, Science and Technology takes the equality gold medal, with four out of nine members being female.

Trade unions, on the other hand, trail behind significantly. There is not a single woman on the main structures of the General Workers’ Union, the Union Ħaddiema Magħqudin, or Forum Unions Maltin.

The investigation comes hot on the heels of European Parliament efforts to bring about gender equality within corporate boardrooms, with women making up only 13.7 per cent of board members across the EU and only one in 30 boardroom chairs.

In Malta, the situation is even worse. Although nearly 60 per cent of university graduates are female, Malta has the EU’s lowest rate of female employment (41.6 per cent) and its lowest percentage of female board members.

These figures have spurred MEPs to call for mandatory quotas requiring one-third of board members to be female by 2015, rising to 40 per cent by 2020.

It is not a proposal which Mrs Mizzi was overjoyed by. “I can see the merits of quotas, and in other countries they seem to have helped. But I wish we didn’t have to resort to them.”

Reaching the proposed one-third target may appear daunting for Malta , but it need not be so, said gender studies expert Anna Borg.

“A lot of resistance stems from a lack of awareness. Girls do better academically – many are among society’s finest minds. If employers are taught this, and told that at least 30 per cent of their boards should be composed of either gender, it is doable.”

Ms Borg, who lectures at the University’s Labour Studies Centre, said the one-third minimum threshold was essential. “Research has shown how a minority is only given an effective voice once the 30 per cent threshold has been reached. It’s useless having a token woman on a board full of men, or vice-versa.”

Mrs Mizzi, who has been a Maltese business leader for some 25 years, feels that women’s lot had improved somewhat over the past decades. “But the truth is, improvement’s been much too slow.”

Family-friendly measures such as better childcare services could help propel female boardroom participation forward, but Ms Borg urged caution. “Such measures are need­ed, but only if they come with a cultural shift, moving away from the concept of women as the sole carers. You cannot have equality of rights without an equality of burdens.”

EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Redding has hinted she may propose obligatory quotas before the end of the year. Ambivalent about their usefulness, Mrs Mizzi insisted that any eventual quotas needed to be “temporary and tied to specific conditions”.

Ms Borg agreed quotas should be temporary, but was more eager to see them introduced. “Gender equality benefits all, not just women. We may be seeing progress, but without positive action, it’s going to take forever.”

Gender equality, lads?
19 companies on the Malta Stock Exchange
138 board members
135 men
3 women

Information on board members was obtained from the Malta Financial Services Authority register of companies.

Public sector – leading by example
Enemalta: 7 men, 3 women
Air Malta: 5 men, 2 women
Gozo Channel: 6 men, 3 women
Mepa: 10 men, 4 women

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