Malta's percentage of women parliamentarians has only risen by five percentage points in over 60 years, MEP Miriam Dalli said on Friday.

She noted that in 1950, ten per cent of members of parliament were female, whereas women only make up 14.9 per cent of the current legislature's MPs.

Dr Dalli was speaking at a conference on women in politics and media organised by the European Parliament office in Malta.

Saying she was not happy with the outcome of women’s participation in politics, Dr Dalli insisted both politics and the media remain a male-dominated sector.

Dr Dalli is leading a 10-year Labour Party project aimed at ensuring half the party's candidates at the 2027 elections will be women. 

Speaking at the event, MEP Francis Zammit Dimech said parties have not managed to attract enough women to the sector. He said talk of a quota system was being politicised and turned into a partisan debate.

Dr Zammit Dimech also said that being an MP should be a full-time job, so that people can have greater freedom in other areas.

READ: Equality commissioner insists gender quotas are a necessary step

Turning to the quota debate, MEP Roberta Metsola insisted she did not want women to end up in a situation where they had to justify their positions simply because of their gender.

She also lamented that the discussion around women’s issues only crops up around Women’s Day, which is celebrated March 8.