[WATCH] Bernard Grech slams Prime Minister for failing to speak about gender mechanism Bill in parliamentary debate

Opposition leader Bernard Grech has hit-out at the Prime Minister for failing to speak about the proposed gender equality in his parliamentary speech on Monday evening. 

The Nationalist leader was speaking during a parliamentary debate on the proposed gender equality mechanism to help women get elected in the House of Representatives. 

Grech said the opposition is favour of the bill, but insisted it would be forwarding amendments to ensure it can be properly applied to Malta’s context. 

He did say that the bill alone will not solve the problem of female representation in the country’s leadership. 

“We must also look at the cultural context of why women are not getting into politics. We have more female students and graduates, so something, somewhere is going wrong,” he said. 

He also said that a ‘sunset clause’ within the proposed law, which would make the law no longer applicable if there is balanced representation in the House between the sexes, helped the opposition to agree even more. 

Grech started off his speech by calling out the Prime Minister Robert Abela for his speech on Monday evening, stating he was more focused on attacking the opposition rather than debating the bill. 

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“This is your problem, you have become so arrogant that you don’t want to listen. Yesterday he said how proud he was of the proposed constitutional amendment, but today he isn’t even here,” Grech said. 

In his speech, the PM yesterday listed a number of firsts the Labour governments have achieved throughout the years in equality between the sexes. 

“But yet he didn’t have the courage to congratulate Robert Metsola for becoming first-vice president in the European Parliament,” he said 

He said the PM is only interested in hearing himself. 

“This is a PM who removes people who do not agree with him,” Grech said, hinting at the removal of consultant Kenneth Grech from the COVID response team. 

Grech concluded by appealing to the government to accept the opposition’s amendments. 

“Possibly no one can help you improve the law, for the benefit of all women in the country?” he said. 

Prior to Grech’s speech, MP Herman Schiavone forwarded a number of amendments from the opposition side. 

The mechanism will yield success – Chris Fearne  

Deputy Prime Minister also addressed parliament, stating that leaps forward in equality have always been the work of a Labour government.

“We are pushed by the values that everyone in society should have the same opportunities, no matter if they have a different skin colour, no matter their religion and no matter their gender,” he said. 

He said that such a mechanism has already yielded success when implemented within Labour Party structures, and feels that the same success will be achieved in parliament. 

Fearne stated that the bill should be dedicated to the first female MP Agatha Barbara. 

“She got elected in this parliament for the first time at just 24-years-old and went to do great things in politics, and if she was here she would be supporting us,” he said. 

The mechanism is undemocratic – Marlene Farrugia 

Independent MP Marlene Farrugia said while everyone was in favour of balanced representation in parliament, such a bill undermines democracy by electing people who were not chosen by voters. 

“Women will end up being tokens in parliament,” she said. 

The MEP elections, she said, are a clear indication of how people vote for women when they wanted to.

“This bill is a full-blown attack on meritocracy,” she said.  

Women want a fair playing field – Miriam Dalli 

Energy and Sustainability Minister Miriam Dalli said the country needs a political direction to address discrepancies in parliament. 

“This is a question of pushing towards a cultural shift,” Dalli said. 

The minister disagreed with MP Marlene Farrugia’s statements that women will be viewed as tokens in parliament. 

“Women don’t need anyone to get elected, but if we had to look at this as a race, you cannot have women starting with a disadvantage over their male counterparts. Women want a fair playing field,” she said.