Although women in Malta make up over half the electorate, there has been no significant change in the pattern of women's representation as MPs in the past 60 years.
For example, in 1950 there were three women out of 40 MPs (7.5 per cent), in 1951 there were four women out of 40 MPs (10 per cent), and today there are six women out of 69 MPs (8.7 per cent). Moreover, Malta is the only country among the EU 27 with an all-male representation in Brussels. And only recently, after long-drawn insistence, one woman was finally nominated among Malta's candidates for the European Court of Human Rights. What explains the phenomenon?
Studies that explore views and experiences of male and female candidates, and factors that determine patterns of gender selection suggest that despite similar qualifications, skills, and motivation for standing for Parliament, women experience prejudice and bias, and few are nominated.
Political parties are the crucial channels to be elected to office, and they guard jealously their monopoly over the selection of candidates, with the levels of reported discrimination varying according to political party.
Although voters have the final say over who becomes a member of the legislature, they make their choice only after political parties have limited the options.
Repeated studies of sex and voting indicate that men's predominance among elected representatives is not the result of voting in general elections, but of party nomination practices that determine the composition of elected assemblies. Thus, much of the explanation of the male dominance of legislatures and governments that characterise Malta's politics results from party decisions about who their candidates will be. In this sense, it is parties, not voters, who determine the composition of elected assemblies.
While in an ideal world women should be selected in proportion to their number, based on the general principles of democracy, reality is such that this does not happen automatically. Positions on party lists are scarce political goods, and are often considered a reward for past performance.
The selectors tend to be men, who themselves have worked their way up. The issue is: how can results of past discrimination be overcome? As evidenced in the high levels of women representation in Norway, Denmark and Sweden, the most effective measure to overcome the gender imbalance in political parties is the quota policy.
The system of quota targets should be used as floors below which women's representation is not allowed to fall, rather than ceilings above which it cannot rise. Opponents claim they are discriminatory, promote token women, and undermine the ethos of equality.
However, arguments for the equality approach without positive discrimination have failed to increase the representation of women, and there is consensus that it is necessary for women to have other women, and not men, speak on experiences and interests that concern women directly.
Although designed as a temporary measure to overcome the imbalance existing between women and men, Malta is divided over the quota strategy. Perhaps to appease opponents of the system, US Ambassador Douglas Kmiec referred to the quota policy as an 'outreach' in his presentation to a seminar at the Malta office of the European Parliament recently.
Research on gender politics shows that understanding the combination between a traditional gender regime, and the constraints women face in life, contributes to understanding the barriers that stand in the way of women who aspire to active participation in national politics.
The place of women in elected assemblies is a good indicator of how much society values their political contribution. Scholars of political science generally agree that a traditional gender ideology is a major barrier to women's access to political decision-making, and there is evidence to suggest that party support in Malta is not always there to facilitate women's candidacy but rather to increase party popularity among voters.
Women deal with issues that men are less likely to encounter. By bringing these different experiences and knowledge to Parliament, women will be able to effect change on issues that concern them.
However, women in the House are operating in a largely male dominated structure, and are too few to improve the situation or press for change in Malta. The UN signals that the effect of women on high-level decision-making will only be felt when their representation exceeds 35 per cent.
The gender distribution of MEPs in member states rose from 16.6 per cent in 1979 to 35 per cent in 2010. When will Malta look abroad for lessons in achieving a more balanced representation of women and men in politics?
Dr Camilleri Cassar is a senior lecturer at the University of Malta.