Imagine my surprise when I opened the newspaper last Saturday to see my name plastered on page 16 with a full page dedicated to my activities and those of the Women’s Rights Foundation (WRF). I have to say that I was rather amused to see that there are some on this island who seem to know and understand my thoughts, my plans and my intentions better than I do.
They seem to have me and the WRF all figured out. I had to read the opinion piece a couple of times to try to elicit a shred of truth, but all I could find was a collection of lies, insinuations and conspiracy theories. So, let me make some things clear.
Tony Mifsud insists that emergency contraception is abortifacient. He further adds that this is so because Godfrey Farrugia, a family doctor, declared it as such. He says that during the parliamentary committee last June, I had the ‘audacity’ to claim that this argument was not factually supported.
Does this mean that the World Health Organisation, the International Federation of Gynaecologists and Obstetrics, Princeton University and the European Medical Agency are lying as well? Since our own medical experts, namely Mark Brincat, Anthony Serracino Inglott and Victor Grech also confirmed that emergency contraception is not abortifacient, would this mean that they were lying too?
Mifsud also seems to have taken offence that I kept insisting that access to emergency contraception is a woman’s right. Perhaps he is not aware that Malta as a country has ratified various international conventions that state this explicitly and maybe it was because the authorities concerned were reminded of this fact through a judicial protest, that the introduction of the morning-after pill was, in his own words, such ‘a hasty process’.
Mifsud also states that in an interview in The Sunday Circle, I gave the impression that I am the only champion fighting for women’s rights in Malta, ignoring the valuable and esteemed work of the National Council of Women, the Malta Confederation of Women’s Organisations (MCWO) and Victim Support Malta. Is he implying that I give no regard to NGOs working within the field of women’s rights?
As an organisation we have always believed that in order to provide the best possible support for women in Malta, it is pertinent that all organisations and entities working in the field collaborate and pull the same rope. In fact, as can be confirmed by the same organisations, WRF has worked with NCW, Victim Support Malta and sits on network fora side-by-side with these organisations, together with other stakeholders.
WRF has been a member of MCWO for the last three years and I actually represent MCWO on the European Women’s Lobby’s (EWL) Observatory against violence on women. Mifsud may have forgotten that both Roberta Leprè from VSM and MCWO supported WRF in our campaign for the introduction of emergency contraception.
Perhaps Mifsud could have spent his energy and time getting his facts right instead of concocting ill-founded conspiracy theories about how WRF is being funded by IPPF or how WRF or myself are some politician’s puppets.
The best way to prevent abortion is through fighting the stigma on female sexuality and increasing access to a wide variety of contraception
To understand where we are coming from, let’s just look at the figures: statistics show the shocking reality that gender-based violence and gender inequality are very much alive in our society. We cannot deny the fact that one in seven Maltese women have experienced physical and/or sexual violence since the age of 15, one in five are victims of sexual harassment, 16 per cent suffer physical violence before the age of 15 and 10 per cent are victims of sexual violence before the age of 15. These figures are resultant from the research conducted by FRA – ‘Violence against women: an EU-wide survey, 2014’.
Until just a year and a half ago, Malta had still not reached half way in the gender equality index when compared with the rest of Europe. Again, as always backed up by facts, the EIGE Gender Equality Index research published in June 2015 shows that Malta ranks 16 out of 28 member states. It showed Malta ranks low when it comes to Maltese women being involved in political decision-making and indicated that there is troubling unequal division of time between women and men in domestic tasks, social activity and child caring.
Since its inception four years ago, WRF’s motivation and existence has been to ensure that women in Maltese society are protected and not discriminated against and that their rights are safeguarded. Through our services, we have legally assisted and represented 402 women, their children and young adolescent victims of domestic violence and intimate partner violence, three female victims of sexual harassment, two of whom were university students, eight victims of rape, one victim of racial and gender-based violence and 43 victims of human trafficking. Our mission is to ensure that they can live a life free from violence.
Mifsud seems to be baffled that we do not have a position on abortion. To this, we once again reply that Women’s Rights Foundation does not have a position on abortion since we feel that there are far more pressing issues to address in the sector of sexual and reproductive health, violence against women and gender discrimination before we even consider approaching a discussion on abortion as an organisation. WRF’s members have different personal opinions and we accept and celebrate this diversity.
At the same time, we do not exclude the reality that an average of 70 Maltese women carry out an abortion in the UK every year, and that there may be countless others who do so in other EU countries.
Mifsud himself, in his article ‘Abducted and Aborted’ (September 17) estimates this figure to be around 300. We believe that these women, who may have been in desperate situations, merit understanding rather than judgement and condemnation.
Research shows that the best way to prevent abortion is through fighting the stigma on female sexuality and increasing access to a wide variety of contraception as well as making sure that every mother, irrespective of her status and circumstance is accepted and supported. These are all issues that WRF is wholeheartedly committed to.
The members and supporters of WRF dedicate valuable time to advocate, assist and empower women. Rest assured that they are not paid for their time, but do this because they are passionate about women’s rights and want to see their fellow sisters living with dignity in a society that is truly free and equal.
So perhaps before making up ill-founded insinuations and conspiring to tarnish the work of Women’s Rights Foundation, it would be best to reflect on the valuable work that WRF does to ensure that women in Malta can live with the dignity and respect that they deserve.
There is no personal glory in the work that WRF does, but there is most certainly much pride and joy in witnessing women’s empowerment, especially when those who were once victims can move on to live an independent life where they are able to make their own decisions and choices.
Lara Dimitrijevic is director of the Women’s Rights Foundation.