Do the party manifestos really add up for women?

The political parties have been working hard over the past four weeks to convince voters they are best placed to represent their interests.

Yet with women making up more than half of the population, MaltaToday took a look at what policies each party has put forward to win over the female electorate.

Extra leave for parents

The expansion of maternity leave, and subsequently paternity and parental leave, has been one of the big-ticket items in this election campaign. Currently, parents are entitled to 18 weeks of fully paid maternity leave, 10 working days of fully paid paternity/second parent leave, and up to four months of parental leave per parent.

The Labour Party (PL) is proposing extending paid maternity leave to 26 weeks, as well as introducing six months of paid parental leave that parents can share freely, alongside an increase in paid paternity leave to one month. The Nationalist Party (PN) is also proposing 26 weeks of paid maternity leave and six weeks of paid paternity leave, but goes further by offering one year of paid parental leave split equally between both parents.

ADPD supports expanding paid parental leave but insists on a strict 50/50 split, where unused leave is forfeited rather than transferred. Momentum proposes 26 weeks of maternity leave and one year of shared parental leave at full pay, with four months made non-transferable to encourage fathers’ participation.

Although all parties support expanding leave, there is a clear divide between flexible sharing models and ones that actively enforce equal caregiving. Labour’s approach allows parental leave to be fully transferable, but this risks reinforcing existing inequalities, as women are still more likely to take the majority of time off due to social expectations and workplace norms. In contrast, ADPD, Momentum, and to a lesser extent the PN, introduce non-transferable or individually allocated leave, which is more likely to encourage fathers to take leave and help address long-term inequalities in employment, pay, and pensions.

Striking a work-life balance

Beyond parental leave, the parties also include wider measures aimed at helping families balance work and care responsibilities. Labour proposes additional support such as miscarriage leave and neonatal care provisions, alongside extended leave entitlements.

The PN places stronger emphasis on workplace flexibility, including flexible working rights and arrangements that allow parents to adjust working patterns after childbirth or adoption. It is also proposing granting additional sick leave entitlement, which parents can take when their children are sick.

ADPD and Momentum also point to broader changes in working life, with Momentum highlighting more gradual returns to work, while ADPD raises the idea of reducing working hours through wider labour reform discussions.

The overall feeling is that all parties recognise the need for more workplace flexibility. The big question will be whether they will have the political will, once in office, to convince sceptical employers to accept the changes.

Gender gap and representation

All parties propose measures to address gender inequality in the workplace, particularly around pay gaps and leadership representation. Currently, women account for 36.9% of managerial and leadership positions, an increase of 26% over the past decade according to Eurostat figures. Labour proposes mandatory pay reporting tools for large companies to identify disparities, while the PN focuses on EU pay transparency rules and enforcing a 40% quota for the underrepresented gender in public bodies.

ADPD and Momentum emphasise equal pay for work of equal value and tackling structural barriers to women’s career progression. At a broader level, all parties support improving gender representation in decision-making, with Labour, the PN, and ADPD backing 40% quotas or balanced representation in public institutions, while ADPD and Momentum also extend this discussion into wider governance and private sector leadership.

While these proposals show a shared recognition that gender inequality extends beyond wages into leadership and long-term economic security, there remains a clear gap between policy and internal party practice. Out of the 162 candidates standing for election, 46 are women. Labour performs comparatively better, with 28 female candidates, up from 16 in 2022. The PN is fielding 13 female candidates, down from 17 in 2022. Momentum has no female candidates, while ADPD is fielding two female candidates and is also the only party to have a female leader.

Historical inequality

Parties have tried to address historical inequality and unpaid care work in different ways this election. Labour focuses on improving widows’ and survivor pensions. The PN focuses on recognising unpaid caregiving through homemaker grants, pension credits for carers, and stronger child maintenance enforcement.

However, Momentum goes further by trying to retroactively fix pension disadvantages faced by older generations of mothers who were penalised under previous contribution systems due to unpaid care work or outdated rules. Overall, these policies reflect a shared recognition of the long-term economic impact of unpaid care work, which primarily impacts women more than men.

Sexual and reproductive health

When it comes to sexual and reproductive health, Labour prioritises expanding healthcare provision, including a national women’s health strategy, free HRT, expanded fertility support, earlier cancer screening, and improved access to contraception, menstrual products, and reproductive services.

The PN focuses more on access infrastructure, such as specialised clinics and improved screening services. ADPD is the only party that explicitly takes a pro-choice position, proposing the decriminalisation of abortion, alongside a broader rights-based approach that includes comprehensive sex education and free emergency contraception, framing reproductive health as an issue of bodily autonomy and legal protection.

However, none of the manifestos explicitly address adding the morning after pill to the national formulary, despite wider discussions around improving access to emergency contraception and Labour’s earlier commitment to do so in its Sexual Health Strategy.

Furthermore, while parties do propose expanding IVF and fertility support, Malta still has one of the more restrictive regulatory frameworks compared to some other European countries, meaning many people still travel abroad for treatment.

Women in sports

Women in sport is mainly addressed by the PN, which has proposed targeted investment in girls’ participation, better coaching pathways, and funding conditions linked to increasing female involvement in sports clubs. The other parties don’t really go into much detail on sport specifically, instead focusing on broader gender equality issues.

Overall, female sport hasn’t been given much attention across the manifestos, which is a bit of a gap considering how much the issue has been growing internationally. It’s especially noticeable given that male-dominated sports still tend to receive the bulk of attention and funding

Beyond proposals

As domestic violence cases continue to rise year on year, parties have put forward their proposals to attempt to combat this. Each party has taken a slightly different approach to tackling it.

Labour has leaned more towards victim support, and improving how the system works in practice, with proposals like family violence leave, faster court processes, video testimony to reduce trauma, and stronger laws on image-based abuse and deepfakes.

The PN has taken a more enforcement-heavy approach, proposing specialised courts, emergency barring orders to remove perpetrators from the home, a femicide review board, and dedicated police units.   

ADPD and Momentum furthermore have focused on strengthening protection systems overall, with ADPD emphasising quick action, better resourcing of the justice system, and safe accommodation for victims, while Momentum highlights faster intervention, more court capacity, and stronger support for NGOs working directly with survivors.

However, critics of Malta’s current system argue that there is still a gap between policy and real-life outcomes. The Malta Women’s Lobby has raised concerns about inconsistent protection for victims, delays in court proceedings, and weak enforcement of existing measures, calling for stronger resourcing and faster action by authorities.

As a result, some critics are cautious about whether new manifesto proposals will actually be implemented effectively in practice, or whether the same structural issues will continue despite repeated policy commitments.

A mixed bag

Overall, while women make up more than half the population, party manifestos show a mixed picture of how seriously their needs are being proposed.

There are strong proposals from leave to health and protection, but many depend not only on implementation but also require a behaviour change to guarantee outcomes.

At the end of the day, the key question is not just what is being proposed, but whether these commitments will actually translate into meaningful change beyond the pages of the manifesto.