People • 25 May 2003

Women to the fore

Dr Lawrence Gonzi is heir apparent to the Nationalist Party top spot and could be Prime Minister of Malta in the coming years. Julian Manduca met the man who was recently confirmed PN deputy leader at his office

The debate about who will lead the Labour party is now over, barring any surprises should Alfred Sant decide to step down again, and in the coming years the attention will shift towards the Nationalist Party.

Prime Minister Eddie Fenech Adami has intimated this will be his last legislature and three men will mainly be in the public’s eye as the next leader of the PN: Dr Lawrence Gonzi, John Dalli and Dr Austin Gatt.

Anything is possible in Malta, I always told my wife when she first arrived on the Islands, and while this remains true, if I had to place any money on the outcome it would be on Gonzi’s side.

The Minister for Social Policy told me he shares the same vision and values as Eddie Fenech Adami and while some may be looking for more in the future Prime Minister, Malta remains a conservative place and the PN a conservative party.

I would describe Lawrence Gonzi as conservative too, but judging him will rather depend on each individual’s own viewpoint.

If Gonzi achieves what he is setting out to do in the next five years he will bring great progress to Malta, but should anyone be expecting Malta to introduce divorce, or gays to be able to adopt children they should hope for a different leader.

Dr Lawrence Gonzi is working for social change and he is probably in a position to bring about the most far reaching changes. Perhaps his main priority is to create a situation where society will assist both parents to work outside the home.

There are still elements within Maltese society that resist women taking paid jobs, but the Malta government’s direction is now clear and the EU will be helping women to move into positions traditionally reserved for men.

Gonzi told me his ministry will be moving from the period of introducing the legislative framework for employment and industrial relations to actuating plans so as to achieve concrete results in the statistics, the economy and the way the labour force works. "I intend to make sure that over the next five years the Employment and Industrial Relations Law will mean a higher overall participation rate, but more importantly a higher participation rate of women in our labour force."

"It is extremely important for a variety of reasons, because we have some other major challenges; sustainability of the welfare system, pension reform, Malta’s economic performance, the GDP; all will depend on whether we will be able to increase women’s participation."

"In fact in the joint assessment paper drawn up by the government and the EU Commission, this was identified as one of the major economic and social challenges of the coming years. It is a crucial issue."

The nuclear family still remains Gonzi’s focus of attention: "We will be taking initiatives to strengthen the family unit, so as to help husbands and wives, mothers and fathers who are working to be able to cope with their family responsibilities and their work. This means new childcare centres, upgrading the standards of childcare centres, and the introduction of a regulatory framework for such centres."

Women intending to work will find the centres a godsend, but it may not be enough to encourage some to take a job outside the home.

"It is true that in Malta we have a culture that perceives women to be dedicated exclusively to family. That is changing. Over the past years we have witnessed an ever-larger number of women at university, admittedly not in all areas, but we are monitoring developments at the Malta College for Arts, Science and Technology. This is opening up new paths and I am looking forward to see women who, once they go through the educational processes will find themselves with the necessary skills one requires in a modern economy: IT, services.

"The chances are that women will find jobs more suitable for the family set up, in the sense that there is a shift from factory work to services with better jobs, better working conditions, pay and also measures that are being introduced and accepted: shorter working hours, flexitime, parental leave.

"Education is also important, and changes have been made to the national educational curriculum in this sense, but it is still early days.

"One of the major challenges, with respect to married women with children, is what to do with her child. Society is changing and whereas in the past the extended family looked after children, the government will have to provide support services.

"We will provide for a mother or father to be able to leave their children in safe hands and have their minds at rest. Malta already provides free kindergarten services for children aged from three to five; but what is missing is a service, which is more delicate to provide, for children aged zero to two.

"In the last legislature we introduced a pilot project modelled on concepts that were designed by the Council of Europe. The project was introduced in Vittoriosa, is called ‘Access’ and is a family support project that includes a childcare facility.

"It has been an enormous success and has been fully booked from day one. The concept includes training for both mothers and fathers on how to cope with family and work responsibilities and solve family problems. This is a first step of providing the sort of service that will allow parents to work outside the home.

"In the last budget the government introduced a fund of Lm100,000 which is earmarked to cover part of the costs for a working mother or father if they want to leave their child in a childcare centre."

Part of the funds the EU will be providing will also go to support parents choosing to work outside the home, so government will have a helping hand there.

Gonzi’s plans will see Malta experiencing vast changes should they come to fruition, and women would have much to thank him for. His position on other social issues is not so ‘radical’ and he sees divorce laws as causing family units to crumble, and sees Maltese nuclear families as being of paramount importance. However, he realises that society is changing and that other types of families including single parents, single elderly people, unmarried and gay couples have to be catered for, but disapproves of gay couples being given the possibility to adopt children.

"Adoption is for the benefit of the child not for the parents and we have to give the child the first priority. Children must be given the best solution for their character and personality and I do not believe that a gay couple can provide that."

The PN recently elected an all male national council – not a good sign for a minister that wants to improve the status of women.

"In that election the PN was looking to confirm its official positions and we were not electing thirteen, but five or six new faces, I am disappointed that women were not elected," Gonzi interjects.

The elderly are a cause of major concern for society and pension reform has become the topic of major discussion since Minister John Dalli breached the subject recently. Gonzi was not at all fazed by Dalli’s statements and emphasised that pension reform would have to be tackled in a holistic manner by all the ministers in government.

In answer to criticism that the National Welfare Commission has dragged its feet on pension reform Gonzi had this to say: "Other countries have struggled with their plans for years, the Swedish Commission has been discussing its reform plan for 25 years and I don’t expect it to drag on that long in Malta."

"A working document was prepared by the Commission’s former chairman Anthony Galdes, but this was leaked by someone within the Commission as if it were a blueprint and this caused unnecessary controversy at a very sensitive stage."

"A few days ago I had a meeting with the new chairman who needed some time to acclimatise following Galdes’s resignation, and within a matter of weeks we should be meeting to push the process forward.

"There is something of crucial importance which needs to change and that is the participation of the Opposition. The offer for it to participate still remains, and I sincerely hope it will be taken up."

People are eager to have some idea of when a first blue print for pension reform will be made public. "It is difficult for me to say with any precision, but I would expect it within a few months, not years."

Dr Lawrence Gonzi also has plans that should sound like music to the ears of GWU and UHM Secretary Generals Tony Zarb and Gejtu Vella.

Gonzi plans to improve industrial relations processes and since the elections met Ministers John Dalli and Austin Gatt to discuss the setting up of a new idea on how to facilitate the negotiation of collective agreements. The idea is that the process would start earlier and avoid situations where negotiations start months, or even years, after collective agreements have lapsed. "We hope to avoid industrial disputes arising because of negotiations taking too long."

The election of the Labour Party’s first deputy had just taken place and Gonzi expressed satisfaction at Notary Charles Mangion’s election and made an appeal to him.

"I think he is a good choice. Dr Mangion was deputy speaker when I was speaker of the House, I know him quite well. He is a balanced and objective person and certainly a nice person to deal with.

"I look forward to working with him in my capacity as leader of the House and with Mangion responsible for Parliamentary Affairs we will have to sit down together and see how things can move forward.

"I do hope that he will bring change within the Labour parliamentary group. I hope that it will stop calling for a quorum and having to cancel sittings because somebody has asked for a quorum five minutes after Parliament’s opening when everybody is still settling down.

"I also hope that the time has come to do away with these childish ways of using parliamentary procedure to waste time – we are facing a challenging time. In the EU Parliament we will have to debate not only Maltese legislation but also what is being drafted in the EU."

Now that Malta is on the way to EU membership the government will be busy conforming with EU legislation, but Dr Gonzi sees the EU as a tool.

"Now we have a new tool, which used properly can help us make a dramatic change in the quality of life that we live. Now we have the opportunity to really address environmental issues for example, which were placed at the lower end of our national agenda because of other priorities.

"This is what EU means and the same for so many other areas. We have to change the mentality by really involving civil society, creating dialogue with the Unions and constituted bodies working in the national interest, and not continue arguing about who is the patron saint of our village."