A study on alternative solutions to gender quotas aiming to increase female participation in politics

Abstract

For centuries, women had no rights and were perceived as being inferior to men. A woman's place was in the kitchen or taking care of the children, but definitely nowhere near a political scenario. Politics was considered a man’s world, and women were thought to be ‘not intelligent enough to vote’. Over the past century, women have fought to obtain more rights in the political scenario yet are still a far cry from being equal to men. Women’s leadership and participation in politics is still rather restricted, throughout the world, yet even more so locally. Although women show interest in politics, a reluctance in participation is still very much present. For this reason, Malta is looking to invest more capital into motivating women to join the local political scene. This study research alternative solutions to gender quotas, intended to close the political gender gap, as gender quotas should not be considered as a permanent solution. This paper will comparatively analyse and assess the participation of women in politics by carrying out a quantitative analysis based on statistical research and qualitative analysis in describing why more women should be encouraged to enter the political scenario and recommend effective solutions. Gender quotas are at times perceived as ‘positive discrimination’, since they give an advantage to women to be elected to parliament, by stating that a certain percentage of parliamentary seats need to be taken up by women. This paper aims to not only find the alternative solutions, but also examine the effective implementation of such solutions in Malta. The question that this paper will be seeking to answer is whether there are any other effective solutions other than gender quotas and whether these are sustainable solutions. Through these solutions’ implementation, more women would have the opportunity to be part of Malta’s political scenario. The author’s aim is to propose concrete legal solutions to close the political gender gap and obtain full equality between men and women in the political field.