Women in decision-making: eliminating prejudice and misconceptions
Many women do not come forward for decision-making posts because these posts require long hours of work, and managing family responsibilities and work is difficult. Relying on family/partner support is not always possible for the same reasons. These were the main findings in a recent survey carried out by NSO in collaboration with NCW.
Age, competition, child, family, elderly responsibilities were also highly perceived as obstacles by both men and women. Respondents failed to perceive that a woman’s life pattern, with all its responsibilities, are inter-related with her gender. Very few respondents said that women have leadership skills and that men and women complement each other.
These results come as no surprise, since one of the greatest obstacles for women is the perception of women themselves, as clearly emerged from the opinion ‘The hassle of having it all’, (22 April) by Claire Bonello. Not to mention also the fact that the author confuses the issues of women and work and women in decision-making, which as everyone knows are different issues, and cannot be dealt with in the same manner (see Sunday Times 29 April: News and Views - Celebrating Workers Day).
Consequently, it is the perception of both men and women that needs to be addressed, together with changes in current societal structures. Educating society to view women as individuals with individual qualities, needs, circumstances and qualifications, and not simply lumping women into one basket, is clearly necessary. We need to ensure that women who choose to take up decision-making posts have the opportunities to do so.
Diversity of human resources (in this case, women) is an asset that enriches society in all spheres: economic, political and social. This should be addressed through structural reform. The appointment of women to such posts as a one-off occurrence is far from adequate. NCW believes that the whole issue regarding gender equality is a societal issue and not a case of advancing women simply because they are women. The role of NCW has always been to constantly promote access to opportunities for women who are suitable to the post.
Most important of all, there is the need for a political will to put the issue of women in decision-making high on the national agenda with a national action plan across the board. This should include policies, targets and deadlines, and also the inclusion of positive action… which, after all, is only a temporary measure that can be exercised in many different ways to ensure that prejudice and misconceptions will not influence decisions.

Grace Attard,
Vice President,
National Council of Women