Several Maltese businesswomen disagree with the European Commission’s suggestion to set quotas as a way of ensuring both genders are equally represented at company board level.
They believe gender imbalance at work should be addressed by encouraging more women to aim high by ensuring they have the necessary support structures, such as child-minding facilities and flexible working hours.
According to a recent EU study, only two per cent of Maltese company boards, whether public or private, have female directors. Malta ranked last in the EU where the average stood at 12 per cent.
The European Commission is now considering introducing compulsory female quotas in the composition of company boards.
While women’s organisations feel quotas are a necessary evil to achieve equality, several businesswomen believe there are other ways to fix the imbalance.
Claire Zammit Xuereb, director at The Palace Hotel, believes the presence of men and women is important at all company levels.
“Setting quotas is not the ideal. I think it needs to come from the CEO and management to realise the benefit one can gain from having a balance at all levels,” she said.
Similarly, Helga Ellul, president of the Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry and CEO of Playmobil, is not in favour of “unnecessary impositions”.
“The debate cannot continue to be about females in isolation. The whole shift must involve both men and women, thus family-friendly measures should be designed and applied to both,” she said.
Agreeing on this point, Maria Bugeja, managing director of Saint James Hospital, Sliema, believes women can be encouraged to take on directorships by sharing the family upbringing responsibility and through better child-minding facilities at work, among other things.
“Although as a woman I am pro the idea of encouraging more women to join companies at board level, I am totally against the introduction of quotas. Decisions taken at board level reflect the advancement of the business or service in question, hence having a female presence without adequate contribution surpasses the whole idea of such,” she said.
Simone Mizzi, director of The Body Shop Malta, thinks it is unrealistic to impose quotas on businesses for any gender because companies cannot adhere to them.
“It all goes by merit, ability and ambition... Believe me, if a woman wants to succeed, she will,” she said.
Marlene Mizzi, who chairs AMCA Ltd, and Rosanne Galea, managing director of Future Focus and Galea Insurance Brokers, do not agree with quotas in principle but they accept that, by introducing quotas temporarily, they might address the gender imbalance.
“Notwithstanding being in the 21st century, Malta is still trailing in this regard... Therefore, although I will remain in principle against giving a person a position on the basis of gender, should this be the only solution to increase women participation on boards, so be it,” Ms Mizzi said.
This was an opinion shared by Renee Laiviera, from the Malta Confederation of Women’s Organisations, and Anna Borg, a lecturer in gender and development.
Had there been a level playing field, such temporary quotas would not be necessary, but this is not the case. Women lack support structures such as childcare and, in Malta, the family responsibility is carried mostly by women, they agree.
“Women need to become more assertive and accept positions when they are offered to them,” Ms Borg said.
Ms Laiviera added: “Women have to believe more in themselves and push themselves forward... there are some mothers out there who can work wonders because they have such good management skills.”