‘Where are the women in Muscat’s Cabinet?’ asks Claudette Buttigieg

Five Labour candidates have been elected to parliament, but only two appointed were appointed by Joseph Muscat to his Cabinet, a fact that led newly-elected Nationalist MP Claudette Buttigieg to take to task the prime minister over his claims to have 'the most feminist' government in Maltese history.

Buttigieg today welcome the Prime Minister's pledge to fight what he described as "a male-centric" public sector in a bid to see an increase in the rate of female participation. But she also queried why Muscat had not appointed more women as ministers.

Delivering her maiden speech in parliament, Buttigieg said she felt proud that 17% of the PN parliamentary group - which numbers 30 - were women, compared to the 13% which made up Labour's parliamentary group, which has 39 MPs.

She said, that all 10 women in parliament - five on each side of the House - had an important role to play in voicing and pushing forward the several "real" issues affecting society.

"I welcomed the Prime Minister's statement that he would lead by example when it comes to change male-centric attitudes and I truly hope that this won't be simple rhetoric. Out there, half the population is expecting to see this change," she said.

However, Buttigieg said it did not bode well that a 23-member Cabinet had only two women. "Couldn't he appoint more women to Cabinet? When Lawrence Gonzi was elected prime minister, only two women were elected to parliament and both of them were appointed ministers," she said, referring to the past appointment of Dolores Cristina as education minister and Giovanna Debono as minister for Gozo.

Turning her attention to the PL's electoral programme, Buttigieg then said that it had been poor on the use of the words 'women' and 'woman' (she pointed out the previous was used only five times, and the latter just once), tying the lack of reference towards women with the President's speech, which only mentioned the recognition of women in decision-making roles towards the end.

"I truly hope that government keep its electoral pledge to appoint more women on boards, commissions and committees. The government, however, must not appoint a woman just because she is not a man, but because they are truly capable to cover that role," Buttigieg said.