NEWS | Wednesday, 28 May 2008

Parliamentary reform - the feminine perspective at TransEuropaExpress 2008

Annually, a person from each European member state is invited to Rome for four days to discuss a topical issue. Malta has been represented three times in all: once by President Emeritus Dr Ugo Mifsud Bonnici on the topic L’Europa alla prova del consenso, and last year by Architect Antoine Zammit on the topic of La Citta`, and this year by University Lecturer, Dr Clare Thake Vassallo.

At the fourth edition of the TransEuropaExpress held in Rome in Spring, the question “Quant’e` femminile l’europa?” was asked and debated. The first response to this question is surely, well slightly more that 50 per cent according to regular census. However, the Italian femminile covers a double meaning which is made explicit in English as ‘female’ or ‘feminine’. Now, we can ask, how ‘feminine’, as opposed to ‘masculine’, is the Europe we inhabit?
The concept of the ‘feminine’ covers certain terms, such as strength and fragility, maternity and passion, which can be used to describe almost anything – from works of art, to styles of writing, to a political union. And these traits can be opposed to the more ‘traditional’ masculine qualities such as decisiveness, goal-orientation, resilience. In other words, ‘types’ of traits held by both women and men.
TransEuropaExpress is in its fourth year. The event is locally coordinated by the MCCA, Malta Council for Culture and the Arts. The Italian organizers, Maria Ida Gaeta, Director of the Casa delle Letterature, and Mario Fortunato, Director of the Fondazione Ratti, this year decided to invite only female participants, in particular, people who work in the arts, in culture, in media or in universities, to take part in this year’s session titled Europa Femminile Plurale. Since an overwhelming number of the participants were novelists, this gave the presentations a particular twist. In fact, many of the issues were presented in the form of short stories rather than more academic style papers.
With over twenty presentations it is, of course, impossible to even begin to do justice to the range of themes that emerged, and yet, beneath the diverse styles a handful of common perceptions began to come through. One was the theme of language, the way it shapes our perceptions, and the manner in which it presents the male as the norm and the female either as incorporated within in it, as in the expression ‘mankind’, or as secondary as in the phrase ‘men and women’ rather than ‘women and men’. Another recurrent issue was that of women getting caught up in unequal duties in building family lives until they find it is too late to enter fully into careers or public office. A related theme expressed in some of the stories was that of the upbringing of young girls which is focused on making girls feel that wanting to do things for others is more important than following their own talents and ambitions.
Other presentations focused on changing the expectations based on gender roles present in many European countries. The Irish artist, Michelle Rogers, for instance, discussed one of her paintings entitled Women Emerging from the Shadows which she was commissioned to paint for Queen’s University, Belfast to be placed in the Main Hall of the Institution. The painting is cleverly and eye-catchingly created with the shadows falling in front of numerous women walking forward together. They ‘emerge’ into all kinds of professions from technicians, to porters, caterers, directors to pro-vice chancellors, thereby representing women from all walks, pushing prams, or being pushed on wheelchairs. The resounding positive feeling in this painting is that all can be achieved without the compromising of feminine qualities which we associate with women generally.
A variety of angles were pursued in the debate on a ‘feminine Europe’, and the Maltese presentation focused on the minority presence of women in the Maltese Parliament and the total absence of Maltese women at the European Parliament. Of Malta’s five man MEP team, none sits on a Gender Equality Committee. The issues that closely affect women and which are debated at EU level are not directly followed by our representatives, who might therefore be unaware of problems and solutions which affect women’s working and social lives directly.
Maltese women’s representation in the national Parliament is also very low. It seems likely that the part-time nature of Maltese Parliament, its low salaries, and evening sessions also constitute a direct impediment to the participation of women at the level at which major decisions which affect the whole population are taken. Parliamentary reform of a practical nature is needed. Women do not need ‘enlightened’ men to take decisions for them, but need to be present in debates to make their case and to show that a feminine perspective is simply one strand of a complex fabric that complements a mature democracy.

Dr Clare Thake Vassallo is Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Malta. She teaches a course on Language Power and Gender, and other courses on Language, Literature and Translation.