16 17 News malla....., SUNDAY 7 JANUARY 2018 News maltaloda, SUNDAY 7 JANUARY 2018 Women make policy, not President coffee •• an activist at a Agatha Barbara recent feminist rally in (1982-1987) Valletta sends a clear road to message women's suffrage

an ultimate homage to mothers." When women's suffrage finally arrived Two female candidates with the MacMichael Constitution, the Helene Buhagiar contested with the Dem­ Church turned its attention to guiding ocratic Action Party, a party that had gained women on how to exercise their newly ac­ ground because of the vacuum left by the and beyond quired right. Constitutionals and because of the state of the Nationalist Party at that time. This MacMichael was composed of traditional entitled elites Sir Harold MacMichael was a seasoned that included landowners and respected Women's enfranchisement and the nation-building project in MaLta Cambridge-educated colonial administra­ professionals who wanted to preserve their tor who had cut his teeth in Khartoum and privileges. They fiercely opposed social and as Governor of Tanganyika. economic reform, particularly the introduc­ Two days after his arrival in Malta Mac­ tion of any form of taxation, and during this Michael addressed the population on period they greatly feared prospects of na­ fare, that were inspired by socialist ideals, or The Nationalists were in a state of disarray in support of the Women of Malta Associa­ Rediffusion (cable radio) where he ac­ tionalisation. in appeals that aimed to empower privileged • with their leader Enrico Mizzi being tainted tion's application to be represented in the knowledged that his main challenge as Helene Buhagiar was of course instrumen­ women who already enjoyed status, a degree by his pronounced Italianate sympathies. National Assembly. "It is the opinion of this Constitutional Commissioner was to rec­ tal because of her appeal to female voters. of education, property and social capital but The Labour Party emerged as a major new Assembly that the admission of the delegates oncile Maltese aspirations for self-govern­ From a woman's point of view she promised were still not eligible to vote. force, especially after it formed the Labour of this Association will mean the acceptance ment with the imperial interests of Britain. to devote all her attention to housing and Mabel Strickland belonged to the latter Front with the General Workers' Union. The of the principle of equal rights for women in It was on the 17 July 1947 that the Chair­ food supplies. She also dreamed of national category. Ten years after the granting of National Assembly's first meeting took place the political life of the island including the man of the Assembly presented MacMi­ unity where parties cooperate so that the self-government, Strickland pleaded before on 20th January 1945 at the Palace, in Val­ right to vote in parliamentary elections". On chael with a draft Constitution, the result best brains in Malta give their input to solve Barbara deserved to become Minister... at a Royal Commission on Maltese Affairs pro­ letta. It included representatives of the press that day the Association was admitted to the of two long years of intense and heated difficulties, in an effort that would resemble least in recognition of women's important UNIVERSAL suffrage opened the way for all posing amendments to the Constitution of and Mabel Strickland was nominated on be­ Assembly but the biggest gain was ~he agree­ debates. Later that year MacMichael pub­ a 'National Government'. role in getting the Labour Party elected". women and many disenfranchised men, to 1921 to "consider the equity of bringing the half of The Times of Malta. ment in the principle on the notion of equal reinforced the position of the Church and lished his report, stating: "The most im­ In its electoral programme her party She did eventually become the first Mal­ exercise their right to vote and participa~e in political status of the women of Malta more In the second sitting, a delegate challenged political rights. also served to keep clergy-members on portant [change] was the inclusion of the promised to defend female workers via new tese cabinet minister in 1955. After 35 years elections for the first time in Malta's history. into line with that enjoyed by the women of the presence of "a woman in the Assembly" Both Burns de Bono and Buhagiar were al­ message. After the war, the newspaper had principle of female suffrage on a basis of laws that would be enacted "to regulate the as a parliamentarian Agatha Barbara was The trajectory of women's emancipation is English and other self-governing units of the and stated that this constituted a precedent lowed to participate on behalf of the Asso­ come under the direction of Mgr Salvino equality between the sexes in all respects." employment of women and children in in­ appointed as the first woman president on very often omitted from the prevailing nar­ British Commonwealth". and might be construed as meaning that ciation. When the Association was formally Bartoli Galea who embarked on a 30-year The electoral campaign for the first re­ dustry". 15th February, 1982. A series of ftrsts ... ratives that reinforce our sense of nation­ In 1931 she managed to persuade 428 women had the right to vo~e in general elec­ approved on 16 March 1945, one of the most ' stint as its editor. An examination of Lehen sponsible government under the new con­ Agatha Barbara came from a background where she mostly stood alone. hood. This commemoration attempts to re­ women to sign a petition, which she sent to tions. Although this man's views on women .prolific opponents of female suffrage in the is-Sewwa's coverage of the debates of the stitution took place throughout the sum­ that was completely alien to the elite mem­ dress the prevalent collective amnesia about a Royal Commission. The petition stated: were ubiquitous in Malta in the 1940s, his press, William E. Chetcuti, lamented in The Assembly, relevant articles and Letters to mer of 1947. bership of the Women of Malta Associa"­ A slow process women's place in history. "We feel that the time has undoubtedly motion to bar her on the grounds that she Bulletin that it "would seem that by a bare the Editor, show that the Church in Malta For the first time ever the parties needed tion. Barbara, a young teacher with solid The vote to women did in some ways help After World War I, an all-male National come for the recognition of the right of was a woman, found no one to second it. majority of only 10 votes, in the absence of intensely resented the notions of "equal to appeal to a wider electoral base. A to­ work-class roots from Zabbar, entered the to re-define the political landscape but the Assembly convened in Valletta in early 1919 wome)). in Malta to take part in the delib­ about 160 members and with the aid of the rights" for women and "women's emanci­ tal of 140,000 electors were entitled to go political arena with the Labour Party after process was slow. Seventy years after the to discuss self-government. It comprised a erations of the Parliament of the island, in Reggie Miller open vote, our small band of budding wom­ pation". to the polls, 54.4% of which were women. gaining sympathy within her own commu­ MacMichael Constittftion, we can argue wide spectrum of Maltese civil society, but view of their already active interest in pub­ The Labour Front was ready to push for en politicians have, with the gallant half of The proponents of women's suffrage had They needed to elect 40 members to sit in nity because of voluntary work. that the dearth of female representation in it faHed to reflect the developments that had lic life ... We sincerely believe that women's universal suffrage. At the helm of the GWU, ,several vote hunters, contrived to achieve a gargantuan task in the face of this power­ the Legislative Assembly. The Times of Malta (12th August 1947) Parliament amounts to a serious democratic taken place in London in the post-war pe­ influence and increased participatioll in the Reggie Miller was fully aware of trends that what they call their emancipation". ful opposition. When a general election was announced published a report of a Labour meeting in deficit. riod, when in 1918, British women acquired public life of Malta will be conducive to the were slowly catching up in Europe, where His article was entitled: "Women Minding In November 1945, the new Archbish­ between the 25-27 October 1947, there was Paola, where Barbara appears in a party ac­ In 2017 the percentage of female Parlia­ the right to vote and the right to contest better government or these islands ... " equality had emerged as a new theme on the Men's Business" - just one illustration of the op delivered a speech aimed at 'married no stampede by women to run for Parlia­ tivity. The newspaper observed: "Miss Bar­ mentarians is almost the same as that of elections. One whole year later, the Royal Commis­ political and the trade union agendas. tone used by many opponents of female suf­ women and mothers' where he cleverly ex­ ment but all parties needed to canvass des­ bara is the first woman to address a public the election of 1950. The Inter-Parliamen­ Prof Godfrey Pirotta published records of sion answered that the petition did not seem However, segments of the union repre­ frage at that time. pressed "his intense love of a loving father" perately to clinch the female vote. The five meeting since the enfranchisement of wom­ tary Union Index (2017) ranks Malta in the correspondence between British suffragettes to have the support sentatives feared that since women were who had the duty to warn and counsel his parties that contested only fielded a total of en in Malta". 148th place out of 193 countries. Across and the Colonial Office in London, which ,------, of any of the politi- paid less than men, their presence in the Michael Gonzi children. He dismissed women's claims for two female candidates. Barbara campaigned in the working-class the years Malta steadily slipped down this reveal that the British suffragettes had their , cal parties and hence labour market threatened work conditions The most vociferous opposition to wom­ a political role but instead, celebrated the Two women were conspicuous by their districts of the inner harbour areas with im­ index. While other countries advanced, the eyes on Malta. Prior to the approval of the there was no evidence and undermined union demands to improve en's suffrage came from influential Church power of mothers' virtues. He described absence: Mabel Strickland did not contest mediate success. In her meetings and early participation rate in Malta remained frozen 1921 Constitution, the leading British femi­ that the extension of them. During the 1944 annual conference circles. Opposition was not merely through mothers as the "head of the family" ... the because the Constitutional party was far too contributions in the press Barbara, never in time. With exceptions, women were often nist Eva Hubback, who headed the National the franchise would of the GWU, a certain Mr Cassano tabled a its influence on delegates in the Assembly wife as "the queen of the home" who ex­ weak to make electoral in roads. Josephine disconnected the plight of women from that rendered politically invisible. Society for Equal Citizenship, fiercely pro­ be acceptable. motion to exclude all female workers from but also from clerics within the community erts influence and exercises her mission to Bur\1s de Bono did not appear on the list of of the working class. Although there are In domestic politics Malta is far from tested the exclusion of Maltese women from The suffragette cam­ membership. that were in a position to influence public safeguard her own children from the decay candidates and just one month before the no records that she was sympathetic with achieving the required critical mass of 30% the franchise, which it deemed to "a most paign in Malta never Union minutes reveal that it was Reggie , opinion. that was experienced in countries that have election, she resigned from the Women of the struggles of the international feminist that is deemed essential to register regular retrograde step." , took to the streets. It Miller who convincingly counter-argued The newspaper of the Catholic Action turned their back on religion; "A man is Malta Association, because she said that her movement, Barbara was in line with social­ and unassisted advancement. We are far She was' "anxious to have an amendment was a struggle con­ that the motion was tantamount to deny­ Movement, Lehen is-Sewwa{Voice of Truth) 'morally shaped by his wife' ... The purpose mission was now accomplished. ist feminist perspectives that deem gender from achieving a gender-balanced represen­ moved [in Parliament] to the effect that ducted mainly from ing women the right to unionise. "[Miller] of marriage is offspring" ... Do not be scared The ballot list featured Helene Buhagiar to be deeply embedded in the condition of tation in Parliament, where both sexes need women in Malta are also enfranchised" but behind the desk, deprecated the idea of a union which was . by the number of children that you bear ... and a young new unknown candidate who the working class and its political demands. to have a minimum of 40% representation. the Constitution was approved by Letters Manuel Dimech through contributions fighting tooth and nail against all sorts of dis­ God will send you offspring and God will contested with the Labour Party. Her name At 75.42% the turnout for the 1947 elec­ History shows that we need to shake the Patent (Le. it was merely signed by the mon­ to the press and driven crimination should itself admit in its organi­ help you provide for them. Big families are was Agatha Barbara. tion was very high, a sign that people were tree. Change may require temporary posi­ arch) and she never had the opportunity to by inter-personal net­ sation the principle of discrimination, this eager to participate in political life and they tive measures, a topic that is now thankfully table amendments. works. till,1e - by sex. The union would no longer be knew how to exercise their newly acquired on the national political agenda. While women were excluded from discus­ General if it excluded any class or section of right. Throughout the years, the inadequate fe­ sions that led to the Amery-Milner Consti­ Josephine Burns de Bono and Helene bona-fide workers." (AGM minutes 25 May The result tendered the biggest electoral male representation in the public sphere tution, which granted Malta autonomy in in­ Buhagiar 1944). victory ever for the Labour Party with a has been reinforced by the invisibility of ternal affairs, the key political persona who The Women of Malta Association entered Miller was . sympathetic with women's 59.9% of the votes. Labour elected Barbara, women in the narratives that are transmit­ was deeply sensitised to the advancement of the political scene ip. the late January 1944 emancipation. It was through his guidance who wrote history when she succeeded to te,d through national commemorations, rit­ women, was imprisoned in exile, in Egypt. in a meeting for women that aimed to enlist that the Women of Malta Association was win a seat and she obtained the required uals, monuments, texts and the images that Manwel Dimech was a social gadfly who sympathy in securing for women in Malta quickly set up specifically to demand the quota in the first count. people are exposed to. Collective memory deemed education to be an agent of social equal political rights with men. right to female suffrage. Josephine Burns de Being the ftrst woman in the Legislative is mirrored in discourse, literature and the mobility and progress and who was attuned Burns de Bono was appointed President of Bono fitted within Miller's strategies because Assembly changed her life prospects. Wom­ media that shape our perceptions of past to the demands ofthe suffragette movement the Women of Malta Association whereas she did not divorce the situation of women en had obtained suffrage and the right to events, which we did not directly experi­ in the UK and the rest of the continent. Di­ Helene Buhagiar became Secretary General. from broader social and political processes. participate in politics but social and cultural ence. The Central Bank's commemorative mech saw the struggle for self-determination Helene Buhagiar was a generation older than While Burns de Bono worked to influence norms still set strict parameters for wom­ coin contributes to the celebration of the as intrinsically linked with women's libera­ Josephine. She came from a family of ade­ the direction of the Labour Front by building en in political life and she was bearing the role of women and is a reminder of their tion. In the year that Emily Pankhurst put quate means and contacts. Since 1916 she bridges with the GWU and Labour officials, brunt of all this on her own without much present-day challenges in the contemporar.y wind in the sails of the suffragettes in Man­ had been the driving force of the Malta Art Mabel Strickland was busy burning bridges support .. . without any role models. political and constitutional trajectory. chester in 1903, Dimech had already ap­ Association, where she invested most of her with them. Her parliamentary seat afforded her one pealed for women's liberation,in his publica­ time and energy. A harsh critic of the 'Labour Front, Strick­ privilege: the right for equal pay with men. tion I1-Bandiera tal-Maltin (The Flag of the Both women used the press as their main land remained loyal to the women's cause Other Maltese women had to wait another Maltese). vehicle to advocate for suffrage and obtain and had no sympathy with the ambivalence 27 years before a clause ~s introduced in The arrival of the new Constitution of 1921 a place in the all-male National Assembly and the impasse faced by trade unionists' the Republican Constitution of 1974. When This is an arbidged version of the presen­ eventually led to sporadic calls for women's which convened to draft the new 1947 con­ in the face of the anxieties of jobless male Paul Boffa's Labour cabinet was formed in tation by Dr Carmen Sammut, Pro Rector enfranchisement. stitution. workers. 1947, Agatha Barbara was not named among for Student and StaffAffairs a'nd Outreach., In the inter-war period demands for the These developments took place while it It was in the third meeting of the Assem­ his ministers and some complained in the on the occasion of the 70th anniversary press, saying that "given her great personal since Maltese women were given the right to vote for women were either embedded with­ was clear that the war had brought a seismic 'bly, that two Labour Front delegates Guze Archbishop Michael Gonzi Mabel Strickland, leader of the Constitutionalist Party in mounting pressures towards social wel- political change. Cassar and Turu Colombo, moved a motion commitment, perseverance and hard work vote, at the Central Bank ofMalta.