interview

What women really want

Combining life as a politician, mother of two and mature student sounds like a tall order for anyone. Labour MP Helena Dalli tells MIRIAM DUNN how she manages, while also giving her views on the Nationalist government’s approach to women’s rights and how, as an erstwhile participant, she feels about beauty contests

The woman who held the now defunct position of parliamentary secretary for women’s rights in the former Labour government does not mince her words when asked to comment on whether she believes that the Church’s attitude sometimes contributes to the guilt working mothers can end up riddled with.

Indeed, Helena Dalli believes it would be preferable if the Church "encouraged and supported" the concept of maximising human resources – both male and female - in the domestic and public spheres.

Ms Dalli, who is currently combining her life as a Labour MP with studying for a PhD, also admits that she looks back on her participation in beauty contests as the result of "sixth-form sophistry and pre-pubescent silliness", and now, with hindsight, views the industry as demeaning towards women.

Somewhat ironically, it was the man responsible for bringing down Alfred Sant’s government, in which Helena had a key role, who played a major part in igniting her interest in politics.

"The more I got to know Dom Mintoff the more I got involved in politics and the more I took on from him without realising," she explains. "He couldn’t stand it if I complained about some injustice or other. ‘And what are you going to do about it?’ he would ask."

Mintoff involved a young Helena in a number of ventures which drew her towards the Labour party, although she admits she was still gaining confidence at this time.

"When you’re very young you think to yourself ‘oh I can’t do that’ but he wouldn’t even ask, he’d take it for granted that you’d do it," she recalls.

Helena also believes the injustices she witnessed while growing up influenced her decision to move into politics.

"You learn that having political power is a means to the end of doing something about problems which afflict many people," she says. "I carried the baggage of having seen a lot of social injustices where I grew up in Zabbar and wished to be able to do something about them."

I ask Helena how she combines her family life with being a politician and mature student.
"Reading for a PhD had been in my plans for some time; I had projected to start working on it as soon as my youngest started kindergarten," she answers. "Four years ago I was accepted at the London School of Economics, but I had to put the project on hold because I was given a junior ministry in the Office of the Prime Minister."

She explains that in 1998 when the Labour government was prematurely sent to the Opposition benches, she was able to proceed with her studies.

In fact, although her dedication as a politician is evident, she keeps her calling in perspective.

"As I see it, it is very important to have a life outside politics," she stresses. "I’ve seen people crying in counting halls because they haven’t been elected. And I don’t fully understand it; maybe it is because they let politics squeeze out the personal life and other interests."

Helena’s philosophy is that political life is about being of service to the country and the people.

"But then it’s the people who have to choose who they want to serve them," she emphasises. We are only ‘ghasafar tal-passa’. I have other things, teaching, writing, studying, all of which give me fulfilment and happiness even though many of my passions revolve around politics."

She explains that she has various ways of ensuring her family keep in close contact.

"For instance breakfast time is a very important time for us before we all go our different ways," she adds. "I try to organise work I have to do outside the house while the children are at school. In the evening when I go to parliament or to my constituency the children are mostly with their father and that is important for all of them."

She also stresses that she is only really separated from the children when she goes to university in England for her supervisions.

"That is where the sergeant major (my mother) comes in and the real good behaviour business starts!" she says with a laugh. "And sometimes they do need a bout of military discipline!"

I ask Helena whether she thinks the Church’s stand sometimes contributes to any guilt women might feel about going out to work.

"The socially constructed role of motherhood imposes unrealistic demands which working mothers are unable to meet," she admits. "The result is that some are consumed by guilt."

Helena admits she is "loathe to concede that there is anything at all to feel guilty about."

"Parenting can be one long compromise, and most working mothers are making the compromises," she says. "Our society would benefit if the Church was to encourage and support us to make better use of all our human resources so that men and women can contribute better to the domestic and public spheres, for our families’ good and for the common good."

As we move on to the issue of women’s rights, I am interested to know Helena’s views on beauty contests, since as a teenage girl, she was herself a successful contestant in this regard.

She stresses she only really ended up entering her first show by default.

"I was asked to fill in for a friend in a dress-making competition who had fallen sick," she recalls. "I accepted because I was interested in tracing patterns from ‘Young Burda’ and sewing clothes for myself. One of the conditions for this competition was that you had to model the dress yourself, which I did, and I won."

Helena points out that her contribution was a very hurried, plain, long dress, because it was the best she could do, and even that was done with the help of her mother.

"And I won a sewing-machine for that, which I still have!" she adds, with a smile.

But the story continues; a few weeks later there was a picture of her being presented with the prize in a newspaper, which the organisers of Miss Malta spotted.

"They came to speak to me at my home to ask me to take part in their show," she explains. "At 16, armed only with sixth-form sophistry and pre-pubescent silliness, it is not very difficult to be persuaded especially by people whose business it is to scout people this way. As in the other case I took the whole business very lightly till it got out of hand because I won again."

This meant she had to go on to the London show.

"I was one of the youngest there, the majority of the girls were 23 and 24 year olds," she says. "When I think about it, at 23 I was married and ready to start a family, which I did and the contest was a thing of the past! Now it’s ancient history."

Ancient history, which Helena has strong views on, when asked whether she believes such shows are demeaning to women.

"Yes, this whole business is the objectifying of women and the problem is compounded by the media which are constantly portraying unrealistic and unreachable models of perfection," she says. "Although women might think that they want to be or look like those portrayed by the media, this does not necessarily imply a free choice, since it is the advertisers who define what forms of femininity, or masculinity for that matter, are acceptable in our society. Not only are our perceptions influenced by the media but in turn so are our values and actions. This is the adoption of criteria of self-worth set by others and that’s hardly liberating is it?"

I wonder whether Helena is disappointed this government did not retain the position she held under the former administration of parliamentary secretary for women’s rights and what she believes has been the impact of this decision.

"The results are what you see," she answers. "There is no focus. Projects are shelved. Women’s issues are not on the agenda. The junior ministry for women’s rights was relegated from the Prime Minister’s office and dismantled to a mere department in a mega-ministry."

She points out that this has happened even though under the previous Nationalist administration the Commission for the Advancement of Women had made representation to the prime minister that the Commission should be transferred from under the responsibility of the ministry for social policy to the prime minister’s office.

"Thus even women from the Nationalist fold agree that you need to give more clout to such an important policy area and one way of doing this is by having it in the heart of government which is what Labour did," she says.

So was she happy with the steps forward that she made as parliamentary secretary, I ask her.

"Yes I’m happy because we worked on many important areas of policy. And no, I’m not happy because there’s so much to do even five years would not have been enough, let alone less than half of that," Helena replies. "It’s never enough really, but I always say that I want to work so that we need not have an office for women’s rights. That will happen when equality of opportunity is translated into effective outcomes for all. But we are still very far away from that situation."

She cites domestic violence as a key area still requiring a great deal of work and also highlights the projects for a shelter and a research and documentation centre in Valletta, which were both discontinued.

"Unfortunately this government is very good at frothing soundbites; but then it’s all form and no substance," she says. "There are so many things which the next Labour government has to do."

So why does she think there are still so few women in decision-making posts in Malta, I ask?

"We do not have a written equal opportunities policy at the workplace to ensure equal opportunities for both women and men," she replies. "We had commissioned a study which eventually came out with a strategy to increase the number of women at the higher echelons of the civil service. Even within the party a positive action policy is implemented where it comes to representatives on the national executive and the general conference."

Helena stresses that these, among others, should be transitory measures, remaining until there is a critical mass of women at the decision-making levels.

"If you wait for things to happen on their own, it will take much, much longer. We need to change our ways," she adds

So what does she still believe needs to be done to help women in matters of gender discrimination? A lot, it seems…

"For instance there are cases where family assets are tied to a company which, most often, is in the husband’s control and which may prove detrimental to the wife and children in certain circumstances," she explains. "We also have to see to the enforcement of court decisions especially in cases where women with children are not given the maintenance money due after they have been separated from their spouses and succession laws. We still have a problem of legal protection where domestic violence is concerned and a need for structures such as the provision of shelter for these women."

I ask Helena whether she sees a conflict between the Labour party’s stand on EU membership and the fact that the EU is recognised for being strong on equal opportunities.

"Not at all," she answers. "I use all the EU material on equal opportunities and I keep myself ‘au courant’ with what they are updating. However it must be said that the EU directives concentrate on employment whilst the Labour agenda is much wider taking in the rights of women in all sectors of society, this was in fact the raison d’être of the planned gender equality legislation."

She points out that Labour introduced paid maternity leave in 1980 because there was the political will to do so and because they were aware of the new needs of Maltese changing society.

"We had no EU directive to tell us to do so," she stresses. "Now the minister for social policy is telling us that because we have applied to join the EU we get another week (unpaid) of maternity leave! Who do they think they are fooling? It’s humiliating to speak that way, for someone to punctuate each statement with ‘because we are EU applicants’ as if we do not know what our needs are. The same goes for the minimum wage and other conditions of employment many of which came about because the unions, especially the GWU, pressed for them."

Her fear is that instead of approaching EU membership by choice, Malta is currently doing so by default.

"Obviously that does not put us in a good negotiating position," she says. "As I see it membership is being propelled upon us by crisis. What we want is a presentation of available choices and the opportunity for the people to view the options in a rational manner as opposed to emotive rhetoric which fudges reality.”