The participation of women in Maltese local government elections : 1993 - 2009

Abstract

The participation of women in local government in Malta has never been widely studied. This has been one of the main reasons for choosing this particular topic. I always questioned the low representation of the female gender in political life. Women who are so much involved in the community and are protagonists by tradition in the field of voluntary organizations; who spend much of their time in their locality and are the ones who make the most use of services within the community are sometimes not even represented in local councils. They are the ones very much aware of the deficiencies and needs of their environment and have the opportunity to participate at the decision-making level but are they taking this opportunity? The purpose of this project is to analyze the presence of women in Maltese local government from the first election in 1993 to date. Low female representation in the political arena is a phenomenon which exists in many countries. Data shows that women have made progress in increasing their political participation. However, Malta lacks far behind other member states of the European Union. Results from the questionnaire serve as a thermometer which indicates the reasons for the lack of female participation in Malta and that this will most probably persist for a number of years. Although the majority of the respondents answered that they feel that local councils can effectively make a difference in their lives, the number of males was higher than that of females. This perception could be one of the reasons why many women do not feel interested in contesting local council elections even when they do not have children to rear or other barriers which may keep them from participating at local political life.