Women and the Malta Labour Party

Abstract

Power and Politics: In this paper I am going to look at the relationship between women and men within the Labour Party (LP) in Malta. The Labour Party and 'enlightened individual male members' within it have been cited by Laiviera (2004) as one of the main promoters of women's issues within the Maltese Islands. The focus of this paper is therefore going to be on whether this is the case by conducting statistical analysis of secondary data concerning Maltese women's achievement in national, local and European Parliamentary elections from 1947 onwards. This information will be juxtaposed and/or enlarged upon by data derived from online interviews conducted with feminist and non-feminist individuals who work closely with the Labour Party. The questionnaire was sent to all female Labour Party members of parliament, female candidates who contested under the Labour Party for European Parliament, female party officials as well as the party leader and president. Not all questionnaires were returned however. [Excerpt]