Gender equality can only be achieved if women have control over their sexuality, activists say

Malta cannot expect to reach gender equality if women in the country are not afforded full control over their sexuality and their reproduction, Voice for Choice, the pro-choice lobby group's spokesperson, Andrea Dibben said.

"We need to tackle sexual and reproductive health. We can never achieve gender equality unless women can have complete control over their sexuality and reproduction," she told MaltaToday.

Malta is the last EU country to have a full ban on abortion. Dibben says that, to start, Malta needs community-based health services were free or subsidised contraception is provided and that Malta needs to reach out to all vulnerable groups.

Moviment Graffitti and Women’s Rights Foundation marked International Women’s Day on Sunday with a march for women to represent the battles women have fought throughout history and what they have endured to improve their lives and gain freedom and respect. The theme of Malta’s march, in particular, was “all different, same struggling”.

Activists and academics MaltaToday spoke to, say society is yet to be free from patriarchal attitudes and behaviours. Girls and women are harassed in their daily lives, sexist and misogynist language and messages are widely used by way of ‘friendly’ yet ambiguous jokes, in advertisements, the media and on social networks.

Malta has also witnessed several cases of domestic violence and femicides, the last case being the murder of 34-year-old Chantelle Chetcuti, by her ex-partner Justin Borg. The march took place on Sunday at 3pm in Valletta.

MaltaToday spoke to Moviment Graffitti members Christine Cassar and Angele Deguara, Women for Women founder Francesca Fenech Conti and activist and social policy academic Andrea Dibben, on what they think are the key priorities for the year ahead.

Fighting societal norms

Angele Deguara

We are living in a society where we cannot say that women do not have any rights. Women have struggled to gain their right to vote, to study, to work, to receive an equal pay, to own property and to control the number of babies they want to have. But there is still one major obstacle to the achievement of effective gender equality. Our society is still patriarchal, both structurally and culturally. Women are still considered to be second-class citizens; social expectations tied to gender roles are still rather traditional; women are still carrying most of the burden of caring for dependents; they are still objectified; they are still harassed, beaten, raped and killed by men as if they were their possessions. They earn less than men, they are under-represented in positions of power. They are still fighting for health and reproductive rights.

Angele Deguara

Therefore, achieving rights is not enough unless we address the problem of patriarchy which is ingrained in different aspects of society. All that is wrong in our society in terms of gender rights is rooted in this system which can only be eradicated if we attack it from its roots. We need to change the way we do things in both the private and the public sphere. We need to bring up girls and boys as equal individuals, beyond the pink and the blue. Men have to stop taking women for granted. Women can have all the rights in the world but unless we address patriarchal structures and norms, they will never be considered equal.

Francesca Fenech Conti

Today in Malta a single man and a single woman have exactly the same rights and opportunities. However, women’s lives are conditioned from a young age by the fact that we will one day most likely become mothers. We are conditioned to plan for this possibility long before we even have a boyfriend. Once we become mothers that’s when the inequalities start to be felt. Women are still expected and many of us want to be the main carers of our children. Motherhood creates many inequalities, from the lack of personal time for hobbies and sports to financial inequality within relationships.

Paid parental leave

Christine Cassar

Paid parental leave for all genders to encourage equality in welfare is very much needed. After the birth or adoption of a child, both parents should be eligible to receive paid leave of a period longer than the current fourteen weeks for mothers and the mere one day for the fathers. Leave should make an allowance for flexibility to be used as the parents wish, and foster a change in mentality whereby parents do not slip into traditional gender roles.

Andrea Dibben

Andrea Dibben

I think we need to re-address gender imbalance when it comes to household chores. We nowadays face a “feminisation of responsibility”. Women are expected to work outside the home and the majority can’t do otherwise because of the financial necessity. Yet, women still shoulder 80% of caring – whether it’s the home, children or elderly or sick relatives. This is leaving many women drained and exhausted and is a clear detriment to their physical and mental well-being. We definitely need a better balance, starting with paid parental leave for both parents, as well as changing attitudes and expectations of who is responsible for the unpaid work in families.

Reproductive rights

Andrea Dibben

We need to tackle sexual and reproductive health. We can never achieve gender equality unless women can have complete control over their sexuality and reproduction. There is so much to do in this area, again starting with education and information about sexual health, also addressing power imbalance in intimate relationships and the double standards when it comes to women’s sexual lives. Moving on to access to contraception and reproductive services. We need community-based health services that address this area, to provide free or subsidised contraception, to reach out to vulnerable groups and remove all barriers to access. And, of course, we need to consider seriously the effect that the total ban on abortion has on women in Malta.

Christine Cassar

Christine Cassar

Reproductive justice, mostly access to safe and legal abortion. One can still be morally against abortion without denying the right to other women: for example, women who have been in an abusive relationship, raped, suffering from mental issues or other difficult situations. This kind of healthcare access will eliminate unwanted dangerous, unassisted abortions at home. Vulnerable women in our community are denied this right because they have to bear the costs of travel and healthcare.

The gender pay gap, and rights at the workplace

Francesca Fenech Conti

Francesca Fenech Conti

This situation also affects the gender pay gap and the participation in political and public life amongst others. Therefore, the priorities for me would revolve around this issue, and I would love to see compulsory paternal leave of at least three months for fathers, together with the possibility of reduced hours and working from home for both mothers and fathers whilst promoting the importance of the involvement of both parents in the rearing of their children. There should be mechanisms that would allow and ensure that both parents are equal and financially independent within marriage, even if one of the spouses is not working, and the right to choose with whom, when and how many children to have.

Christine Cassar

Authorities should be recognising specific forms of discrimination and abuse faced by migrant women in their workplace, and take the necessary legal actions against employers. Migrant women are greatly disadvantaged as more often than not, they have to accept precarious employment and work longer hours for less than the minimum wage. There is also a huge lack of recognition of foreign degrees even for grades obtained in EU countries. As a result, many highly-skilled women find many obstacles and difficulties to pursue their profession locally.

Domestic abuse

Francesca Fenech Conti

Victim blaming is another problem area. Malta has a serious problem with victim-blaming. We live in a country where 47% of the population still believe that women make up or exaggerate claims of rape or abuse (this is the highest in Europe). Women who experience violence encounter these attitudes that are perpetuated by institutions. So, my proposal here is to tackle the attitudes from the start, from childhood, especially with boys and men as violence starts from such attitudes that first lead to disrespect and eventually to violence and victim blaming.