A leap in the number of women elected to Parliament was possible, Herman Schiavone told a discussion on female participation in general elections.

The discussion, themed Why Do Women Matter In Politics?, was organised by the Malta Confederation of Women’s Organisations.

Dr Schiavone noted that only 81 women had contested the elections between 1947 and 2008, compared to 1,173 men. Just 15 of those women contested more than twice.

Dr Schiavone asked why Maltese women were failing to get elected in sufficient numbers and mentioned socio-economic and cultural factors, including domestic duties, financial constraints and a weak women movement in Malta.

Electoral candidates present noted that featuring at the bottom of the ballot paper because of the alphabetical surname system was also a disadvantage.

“But we will eventually get a breakthrough... The under-representation of women is not just a Maltese phenomenon,” Dr Schiavone said, adding that there was no voter bias against Maltese women and the electoral system was not to blame.

He said that most women were abandoning politics after their first attempts and parties were failing to renominate the same women. However, this election might see a leap in the number of elected women, Dr Schiavone said.

Anna Borg, a lecturer at the University of Malta’s Labour Studies Centre, said research showed that women tended to prioritise issues that affected families, children and the elderly, so they would take up topics like childcare and violence.

They were also less inclined to take risks, deliberate more and deal with conflict differently. They were less combative and more conciliatory.

“I am not saying that women are better than men but, by working together, the outcome will be better. Women bring added human value to group performance,” she said.

Nationalist Party candidate Marthese Portelli said that she felt more accepted by the electorate today than she did five years ago.

“The participation of women improved a lot. Even female voters seem more willing to accept us,” she said, adding that, just like the higher female participation in the professional sector, there would be a transition in the political one.

But Labour candidate Mary Louise Coleiro Preca, who has been in politics for the past 39 years, said that one could not take changes in the educational sector and in the labour market as a guarantee that the same would happen in the political scene.

“If participating in politics does not become a profession we cannot take it for granted that there will be an increase in female MPs,” she said.

Angele Deguara, from Alternattiva Demokratika, said Parliament was not family-friendly neither for men nor for women. To start with, she noted, sittings were held in the evening with no childcare services being offered.