Two council members of the Malta Confederation of Women's Organisations, Renée Laiviera and Kate Bonello Sullivan, recently participated in a seminar in Brussels to celebrate International Women's Day, at the invitation of the Equal Opportunities Division of the EU Commission.
The first part of the event featured a round table panel discussion: "Women in economic decision-making positions - successful ways of overcoming barriers for women in management positions".
Four European women in top executive positions, coming from different working environments, recounted their personal experience of best practices in successfully achieving and maintaining top management positions and by overcoming barriers faced by women.
During the discussion, emphasis was placed on the low level of female participation in the sciences and that better support is needed at all levels to promote and enhance the advancement of working women, such as flexibility at the workplace and the provision of flexibility in care services.
The round table was chaired by Belinda Pyke, Director for Equality between Men and Women, Action against Discrimination, Civil Society in the European Commission.
The second panel discussion, "Women in politics - progress and challenges", was introduced by Vladimir Spidla, the European Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities, and Anna Zaborska, chairwoman, Women's Rights and Gender Equality Committee, European Parliament, with the participation of five of the eight EU women Commissioners.
This discussion was chaired by BBC journalist Shirin Wheeler who, on opening the discussion on quotas for women, first referred to Malta as having the lowest participation of women members in a national parliament at nine per cent, and Spain having the highest representation at 47 per cent.
Although the majority of the women Commissioners initially disagreed with the quota system when it was first introduced, they later reversed their decision when they realised that many countries, particularly emerging EU countries, needed a quota system in place to help propel and promote women into positions that would otherwise only be considered for men.
A commitment from the Commission on Equality is forecast in their road map for 2006-2010 and constitutes the Commission's framework for action in the promotion of gender equality.
The equal participation of women and men in political and economic decision-making is one of its six priorities.
Ms Laiviera intervened during the open discussion and was later interviewed by South African State TV on gender equality and the relevance of quotas.