By Dolores Cristina  

No, there should not be any reserved seats in Parliament.
Parliamentary representation reflects the people’s choice and it would be tantamount to interference with the democratic process of our electoral system to set aside seats for any sector of society.
The issue of parliamentary quotas for women has always been a controversial one. Actually, there was a time when I believed that the quota system could help to speed up the acquisition of the 30% critical mass of female representation needed to bring about effective change at the legislative level. However, results in countries where positive action at the elective level was introduced have not been as positive as the ‘pro-quota’ lobby would have us believe.
Looking at the Scandinavian countries distorts the picture for the simple reason that there are other factors, social and cultural, that helped to effect the change. In other countries, as in Italy, once the measure of positive action was removed, female representation drastically decreased proving that the system had simply created an artificial situation.
In Malta, the public feeling is that reserved seats for women in Parliament is synonymous with a declaration that women cannot make it on their own steam. They need a push, a shove and a final handout. It decreases credibility and dignity. The sequential question often asked is: ‘If we reserve seats for women should we also reserve seats for other underrepresented sectors as well?’
Having said all this, it must be acknowledged that an increase in female parliamentary representation will be a slow process indeed and dependent on several factors. The most important factor revolves around the current women MPs, who must ‘prove’ themselves and create credible, high-profile role models, illustrating clearly that women can contribute effectively and efficiently.
More women will have to take the bull by the horns and contest the elections. Women must adopt the stance that they must be among the first to change social and cultural attitudes that have always hampered women in public life, rather than standing in the wings and waiting for the changes to happen.
Political parties must genuinely aim for a fairer representation internally. The media, with its powerful hold on public opinion, has to be instrumental in projecting a positive image of women.
Only when the electorate is convinced, will the number of women MPs increase.
Ms Cristina is a Nationalist MP

  By Helena Dalli

The lack of women’s participation in national politics has its roots in history and also in economic and legal realities. When compared to men, women have a shorter record of participation in electoral politics although many women are active in the grassroots of political parties.
The way the structure of political life is organised militates against the participation of women in politics because it was set up by men for men.
When tackling the problem we have to realise that it is not just formal rights that have to be addressed. The way we organise political life suites the male model of co-ordination. For the gender imbalance to be addressed the social obstacles hindering women’s participation have to be surmounted.
This is where the subject of positive action - such as the quota principle - comes in. The feminine perspective is necessary to establish a good model on which to base our organisation of political life. We will get to this model after serious debate between women and men in politics. But in order to have this kind of debate at the highest institution we need a critical mass of women there, thus the need to introduce quotas temporarily, if we do not want to wait forever for things to change. Of course, one has to see all this in the context of policies and structures that are family-friendly.
Fifty countries have quotas for women. Sweden, the first country to introduce a quota system in 1972 has achieved gender parity in parliament and half the cabinet members are women. A quota will obviously no longer be necessary once there is a critical mass of women in parliament. It is a transitional measure.
There are various ways in which a quota can be introduced and I personally think that it is not necessarily a question of reserved seats, which can make men feel they are being deprived of these seats. One can have a system where extra seats are allotted to a number of women who have contested the elections and managed to obtain the next highest number of votes after all members of the House have been elected. This would be similar to what happens with constitutional co-option. In this way the women who get the seats will have gone through the whole process of an election.
Ms Dalli is a Labour MP and former Parliamentary Secretary for Women’s Rights