The participation of women in Maltese political parties

Abstract

In Malta, there is the problem that there are not enough women in politics which leads to an unequal representation of the Maltese population. Moreover, one can note that in recent years more women are elected at the European Parliament than national parliament.

This study takes a case study of Malta and is undertaken through an inductive research and comparative design. Malta ranks low in the Gender Equality Index due to political empowerment. The findings show that within the EU there are more gender-friendly methods and thus, this might attract more women to contest European elections. In addition, more women need to be encouraged to contest elections as statistics show that once nominated, female candidates fare just as well as male candidates.

Furthermore, the element of party selection is a very crucial element to take into consideration as they are the gate-keepers of candidates and should advance the idea of women in politics. The voting system used in Malta was also analysed, in particular the ‘position effect’ whereby many commented that there are better alternatives to our current system that would ensure better representation. This study aims to understand the reasons for such gender imbalance in politics and the possible consequences of such.