A 2007 study, published in the journal - Sex Roles - found that couples who hold feminist views have a better time between the sheets.

Blowing the top off the usual stereotypes that portray feminists as men-haters, the study shows that women who had feminist male partners, and men who had feminist female partners, had more stable relationships, greater relationship health, and remarkably better sex lives.

So I'm wondering...could it be that our dear politicians have finally copped on to this piece of news, hence the sudden urgency to do something to readdress the gender imbalance in our country?

After four years of lip service from the Government, last week, it was Joseph Muscat's turn. During some Freedom Day festivities, he wore his glitzy feminist hat and 'announced' that he'd like to one day see a female Prime Minister in office.

He went on to say that Malta must do everything necessary to readdress the gaping gender gap that currently exists, but like most politicians, he thought that mere sweet talk would do the trick and, stopped short of telling us what he has in mind.

Of course, unless you've been living under a rock for the past couple of months, you know as well as I do that he was carefully pussy-footing around the idea of quotas.

Just like he did with the Libya crisis and same-sex marriage, he is once again playing the 'cautious and prudent' card, testing the waters without getting so much as a toe wet.

Because his party has been in opposition for oh! soooo long... (how long is it again?) I 'almost' understand the man. I mean let's face it, though cowardly, being in his position I doubt many would risk being brave with avant-garde opinions, when all his party needs to do to win the next election is to sit back and wait for the Nationalists to screw up some more.

Whilst that's the unfortunate truth about our political dichotomy, believe it or not, there's something even sadder going on.

You see, the men that pull the strings that sway our country one way or the other don't seem to realise that the gender gap harms not only women, but also themselves and their sons.

Gender equity is not a women-only issue, so it's not just about emancipating women and girls, but also about emancipating men and boys too.

Here's a couple examples how not addressing the gender gap harms men and boys:

Academic Brilliance

Why is it that women are having greater academic success than men?

Why is it that more than half our university population is female?

Is it because women are more intelligent than men?

Do they have better learning skills perhaps?

Or are humans who are brought up with an 'entitled' sense of power less likely to try as hard?

Is the sense of a divine right to power creating a sluggish male culture? (USAID 2008)

I mean let's face it, you don't have to teach a boy that he has the potential and chance to be whatever he wants to be, all he has to do is to look around him.

Unfortunately though, some are then shocked to find out later on in life, that they are not innately in charge, or (shock horror) that they might not want to be.

The Economy

We've been living under the threat of an economic crisis for as long as I can remember.

To this day, we're still being told that we're not out of the woods, and we're still experiencing drastic measures and budget cuts.

Why, oh why, are we ready to cut budgets from education, social welfare, and other vulnerable areas when we know for a fact that gender equity creates stronger economies?

Why do we go as far as cutting the hand that feeds us when we all know that it's no coincidence that countries with high gender equity ranking fare by far better than those lower on the scale?

In other words, why are we still pussy-footing around a sure win for the economy by resisting quotas?

And why is it automatically assumed that quotas will bring in incompetent and unqualified women into the work place, when the country is brimming with qualified and competent ones who can't break through the glass ceiling because childcare closes at 2pm?

Save €1.3 million today

The 'Nista' campaign - you know the one that has inundated our radio waves with inane ads telling us to join the work force because we can now send our kids to child care and save money on taxes – cost the country a total of €1.3 million.

And what for I ask?

At the rate at which women are joining the workforce today, we'll never reach the EU target of 30%, at least, not in Joseph Muscat's lifetime.

Public life and work cultures were built for men, by men. Women have adapted somewhat, but the time has now come to adapt to them.

Quotas will 'force' this culture change, which if left to run its natural course will take another half a century to happen, and in the meantime both men and women will have to continue to put up with the state of our economy.

So stop the lip service, stop the pussy-footing and get on with what needs to be done to break that double glazed glass ceiling.