Who will wield power in 2013?

OMG so much drama on the local scene this year. The judiciary are once again tainted by corruption and unethical behaviour and once again one wonders whether the members of the Commission for the Administration of Justice are actually living on this planet and what on earth the Commission is there for.

It was amusing to see the contretemps that arose between the Ombudsman Joseph Said Pullicino, a former Chief Justice and the Commission. The latter took umbrage that the Ombudsman called on the President and the Chief Justice to relieve judge and Maltese Olympic Committee president Lino Farrugia Sacco of his judicial duties.

 It said the Ombudsman’s Act did not apply to the judiciary and the Commission, so the Ombudsman did not have jurisdiction on the functions, duties and conduct of judges and the Commission and he did not have the power to give an opinion on this. This was solely within the functions of the Commission.

The Ombudsman’s call obviously indicated that the Commission was slumbering, hence it’s reaction. Don’t step on our toes, cause we are solely responsible for the conduct of judges, said the CAJ, which is made up of judges and former ones, magistrates and prominent lawyers.

It is about time that this particular closed shop opens up if it is to regain credibility in its function. Without going into the ins and outs of the Ombudsman’s opinion that caused this squabble, I found it incredulous that the Commission said “he (Said Pullicino) did not have the power to give an opinion on this.” Does one need to have power to give an opinion?

Moving on, we had the Dalligate saga, which is still unravelling, but it will be difficult for John Dalli to recover from this last blow, and the government having to step down after failing to get the budget through parliament, thanks to one if its own, as had happened when Dom Mintoff brought Alfred Sant down.

Mintoff that maverick of Maltese politics passed away and it was refreshing to see former PM and President Eddie Fenech Adami say that Dom’s

positive contribution to the nation outweighed the negative.

The Nationalist Party (PN) has had a stormy year what with the Arriva grand fiasco, with Boris Johnson telling his party conference, in the UK, that thankfully they had got rid of the dinosaurs that are now clogging the streets of Malta, and the serious discontent on the backbenches.

The latter resulted in Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando finally leaving the party and that rottweiler Franco Debono being told he was no longer wanted after his constant nipping. He of course got his revenge by bringing the government down.

Now both parties are pulling out all the stops in the race to head a new government. First, we saw Simon Busuttil (MEP) called in to perform a rescue operation for the PN and now the Labour Party has also called on Louis Grech, another MEP and former chairman and CEO of Airmalta, to help them accrue more credibility, in Joseph Muscat’s words “a value-added for the party and the country”.

I have admired the work and sophistication of both Louis Grech and Simon Busuttil in Brussels and it was refreshing to see how well the two worked together. But after Simon’s call (echoing Churchill’s in the last world war) to his party’s faithful to fight them at the grocers (instead of the beaches, it is winter after all), I am full of misgivings.

I know that the PN are desperate, but I would have thought that Simon would have retained the elegance and cool he displayed so well in Brussels. Unfortunately, he got sucked in to the local panic and lost it. But, I have no doubt that he will regain some of the ground for his party.

I understand that both MEPs have responded to “your party needs you” and maybe they are looking for more fame, glamour and glory in the pond. They also might have felt that after Dalligate their undoubted positive influence in Europe would lose its effectiveness until that whole shebang was sorted out.

We shall still have to see whether Louis, who has laid emphasis on change, which will lead to the strengthening of accountability and transparency, will retain his urbanity on the campaign trail.

Of course there are some politicians on both sides who hold themselves above the fray, but it is so embarrassing to see the infantile and bullying tactics some get up to. It will be great to see a new breed of politician on the local scene, so I hope that Simon will regain his equilibrium and Louis will maintain it.

Published in The Malta Independent on Sunday  30/12/2012

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Why women do not vote for women

I cannot remember how, in an RTK discussion about accountability, transparency and whistle blowing on Thursday evening, the topic turned to gender issues. It certainly was not started by me.

I suppose, I was expected to say that women would be more transparent and accountable. My view is that there are women who can be just as secretive and capable of passing the buck as men.

Having said that, I think that women are just as competent to hold leading positions as men, given half the chance. Ethics and values depend on personalities, not gender.
Roger Degiorgio, another panellist, went further and said that women work harder and shoulder more responsibility.

Of course, he has direct experience having Julia Farrugia editing Illum.
He also surprised me by agreeing that quotas was not the anathema it is made out to be and that he agrees they should be introduced. All this merit baloney from the detractors on quotas, including women, really gets my goat.As if many men who hold leading positions have got there on merit!

It was quite something to read that the Minister of Justice, Dialogue and the Family Chris Said told the Employment and Social Policy Council in Brussels that the development of gender mainstreaming in all policy areas is critical to ensuring gender balance as well as generating economic growth.

Adding that safeguarding equal treatment between men and women in economic and political decision-making positions is fundamental towards ensuring equality of opportunities for both genders.

However, I was surprised to read that he also stated: “Malta has always supported measures that promote and sustain gender balance in society.” I wondered whether he expanded on how Malta had done this and what results have been achieved on gender balance? Was that just not reported? Or is the European Employment and Social Policy Council just another talking shop?

Back to the RTK programme, I was asked the perennial question: “Why do women not vote for women?” It would take a whole programme to answer such a question. But, I made some attempt at giving at least some of the reasons. I spoke about the lack of role models and the deficiency of serious visibility of women in the media, television in particular.

I did not go into further detail on the programme, because that was not the topic of debate. However, I can now elaborate. This is not just a local problem; the latest study from the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media strengthens my argument with regards to women and girls on screen. Overall, the study found that women and girls are not only largely absent on screen, but they are also stereotyped and sexualised.

There are far fewer speaking characters that are females in family films (28.3 per cent), prime-time programmes (38.9 per cent), and children’s shows (30.8 per cent). A large percentage of stories are “extremely” male centric, casting boys/men in 74 per cent or more of speaking roles on television. Children’s programmes and comedy series are the most imbalanced genres in prime time, with less than a third of all on screen speaking characters coded as girls or women.

With regard to women and girls as “eye candy” on screen: females are far more likely than males to be depicted wearing sexy attire and showing exposed skin. Females are far more likely to be referenced by another character as physically attractive. Females are far more likely to appear thin on screen.

The sad thing is that women who can make the grade feel they have to pander to the “eye candy” syndrome. It was good to see a woman prospective candidate for election interviewed in The Independent, but her photo was typically sugary. It is certainly an asset for an ambitious woman to be well groomed, and good looks are great, but being over ‘made up’ to look good enough to eat is not what breaking through the glass ceiling is about.

Back to the Geena Davis study: in family films and prime-time shows, only two women are shown in the executive office of major corporations (i.e. CEOs, CFOs, Presidents, VPs, and GMs). In family films and prime-time shows, not one female character is depicted at the top of the financial sector, legal arena or journalism.
Not one speaking character plays a powerful American female political figure across 5,839 speaking characters in 129 family films. Males are almost four times as likely as females to be shown on screen in STEM (science, technology, engineering, maths) careers.

A higher percentage of male characters than female character are shown working in family films and prime-time shows. Women only hold 20.3 per cent of the total on screen occupations in family films, 34.4 per cent of all jobs in prime-time programmes, and represent 25.3 per cent of those employed in children’s shows.

Girls and young women watch television every day. What is presented is a substantial reason for why women do not vote for women. The Geena Davis Institute is the only research-based organisation working within the media and entertainment industry to engage, educate and influence the need for gender balance, reducing stereotyping and creating a wide variety of female characters for entertainment targeting children aged 11 and under.

Hopefully, programme producers will give attention to this study and work towards adjusting the gross gender imbalance on our screens. It is clear that girls need more aspirational role models on screen to show them that women can succeed in leadership positions.

The importance of education generally was also discussed on the RTK programme, especially with regard to future generations of leaders taking responsibility seriously. A lot was said about tribalism and the confrontational attitudes it provokes, which I suppose had some relevance to why accountability and transparency were lacking, i.e. that ethical and sound judgement can be sacrificed for partisan loyalties.

One must also consider that the old boys’ network is an integral part of the tribes, which also forms part of the set-up that keeps women safely in the background.

Published in the Malta Independent on Sunday 9/12/2012

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