Quotas are not the solution to improving the gender balance in Malta’s boardrooms, Malta Chamber president Tancred Tabone told European Commissioner Viviane Reding during a lunch meeting last week.

Mr Tabone explained that imposing a one-size-fits-all scenario on Europe may not apply to Malta as it does in northern European member states because of cultural issues and the unavailability of support structures for professional mothers.

The lunch was organised by the European Commission, with European Industry associations, European Business Schools and Senior Executive Women, as a result of ongoing correspondence with the Commissioner on improving the gender balance in boardrooms and the imposition of gender quotas.

Mr Tabone explained that the Malta Chamber recognised the need to expand the barriers of the island’s economic capabilities by incorporating more women in the labour force.

But setting mandatory quotas will force entrepreneurs to be sidetracked from making the right decisions in the interest of their companies, he warned. With quotas taking precedence over skills and competencies, women candidates may be given roles on the basis of gender rather than qualification and merit and this was counterproductive for women’s long-term career progression.

“The Malta Chamber believes that merit, experience and achievement should be the most important qualifications for any post and most definitely not gender.

“Rather than quotas, there is more merit in diversity and in a more holistic approach – at least as far as Malta is concerned,” Mr Tabone pointed out.

Around 60 per cent of university graduates are women, but only 14 per cent of board members in Europe’s largest listed companies and only three per cent of board presidents are women.

“I do not accept the argument that there are not enough qualified women to fill supervisory boards,” Ms Reding said recently.

“You just need to look at the list of 7,000 ‘board ready’ women that European Business Schools published a few months ago to see that there are. The pool of talent is there – companies should now make use of it.”