Updated | Women’s groups call for removal of Education Commissioner

Women's groups have called on the Ombudsman to remove Charles Caruana Carabez from his post as Commissioner of Education within the office of the Ombudsman following an opinion piece he wrote in the Times of Malta last Friday.

In comments to MaltaToday, Ombudsman Anthony Mifsud said however that it was not up to him to remove Caruana Carabez but rather the government and Opposition must agree to remove the Education Commissioner within the office of the Ombudsman.

Mifsud added that Caruana Carabez had not discussed his opinion piece with him. The Ombudsman said that Caruana Carabez had not written the piece in his capacity as Education Commissioner. Moreover, he said that while he did not agree with what was written, Caruana Carabez had a right to his opinion.

Carabez's pearls of dubious wisdom

• “Varicose veins, high or low blood pressure (which was the ‘better’ one to suffer from would cause arguments), diminishing eyesight, rheumatism… They would whinge all the way.”
• “So I am being, what? Anti-feminist? Chauvinist? Sexist? But I have always loved women, even with their foibles.”
• “When I had the liberty to use Facebook, I noticed it was only the women bloggers who spoke of curative herbs and home-made concoctions.”
• “The serpent promised whoever it was that if the apple was eaten, it would endow universal knowledge. No woman would have fallen for that because women always think they know everything. Had he promised radiant and perpetual beauty, he’d have had Eve in the sack…”

The Malta Confederation of Women's Organisations is an umbrella organisation that represents 12 local member organisations collectively representing some 24,000 female members. It is also a full member of the Brussels-based European Women’s Lobby

In a statement this afternoon, the confederation said Carabez’s piece, ‘The Foibles of Women’, clearly revealed he was strongly prejudiced against women, and that he did not consider “women to be at par with men as human beings, but as flawed creatures”.

The article deemed to be sexist and misogynistic

“Someone who is so publicly biased can only form his opinions and decisions through his sexist, misogynistic and gendered stereotyped view of the world and cannot deal with cases fairly and objectively,” said the MCWO.

It added that the role of Commissioner of Education within the office of the Ombudsman should instil the utmost confidence and trust to citizens, and should foster values of respect, while giving support to both men and women with impartiality and integrity.

“Mr Cauana Carabez cannot perform such a duty,” it said, adding that his position was no longer tenable.