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Tag: Burning Bikinis

Women’s absence from highest democratic institutions is extremely worrying

The presence of women in Malta’s highest democratic institutions is alarmingly low: only 16% of electoral candidates in 2013 were women, one female Cabinet Minister out of 14, nine female Members of Parliament, and six female judges out of 23. The fact that Malta’s President is a woman is nothing more than a convenient statistic for some, but no real consolation for most. These figures are in sharp contrast to those showing female graduates outnumbering male ones, the proportion of female electoral candidates who get elected is far higher that it is for male colleagues, and girls’ overall exam performance exceeds that of boys.

aditus foundation has just released Burning Bikinis, a documentary exploring Malta’s feminist movement from the 1960’s till the present day. The film engages with leading figures of this movement, honouring their invaluable contribution to human rights in Malta. It draws the path from the legal and political invisibility of women to 2017, when the nation is still struggling to attribute to a woman’s mind and body the equal value, respect and freedom to those of a man.

Burning Bikinis invites Malta to consider those pressing issues that remain in the way of true equality between the sexes, and to mobilise itself against the forces that accept, encourage or perpetuate inequality.

aditus foundation actively promotes a society where all its members are able to access and enjoy their fundamental human rights freely and with dignity. For International Women’s Day, therefore, we are urging the political parties that will contest the next general elections to set for themselves the goal of increasing their number of female candidates. To this end, we recommend them to introduce quotas to ensure women candidates contesting general and Local Council elections, with the longer-term view of such quotas being incorporated in Malta’s electoral legislation.

Burning Bikinis takes a look at Malta’s feminist movement and praises it for its achievements, bravery and commitment. Today, we yearn for that spirit to be awakened in order for it to tackle contemporary challenges.

Burning Bikinis is a film co-produced by aditus foundation and Subway Lab, with the support of Arts Council Malta, the US Embassy in Malta and the German Embassy in Malta. It was directed by Emmanuel Tut-Rah Farah and Alessandro Tesei.

News regarding future public screenings will be made available through our website and social media pages.

The trailer can be viewed here: http://aditus.org.mt/Publications/burningbikinistrailer.mp4

International Women’s Day

Screening: Burning Bikinis

On the occasion of International Women’s Day 2017, aditus foundation and the European Parliament Office in Malta shall be screening the documentary-film Burning Bikinis on the 3rd March @ 3pm – Spazju Kreattiv at St James Cavalier, Valletta.

A debate will follow the screening with the participation of:

Dr Therese Comodini Cachia, MEP

Dr Miriam Dalli, MEP

Dr Maria Pisani, Lecturer and Activist

Dr Virginia Monteforte, Anthropologist

Ms Pauline Miceli, Commissioner for Children

Ms Lorraine Spiteri, Chairperson MCWO

Moderated by: Dr Neil Falzon, Director aditus foundation

Admission is free. Book: TICKETS HERE

The docu-film centres on the collective memories of women’s movements in Malta from the 1960s up until present day. An almost total absence of public, academic and journalistic records attesting to Maltese female lobbies or organisations led to the researchers interviewing women active in those days and tracing those incidents, events and places that were so important to their struggles. As all that we have are their voices and their testimony as the living record of those events. This film is a nod to them and to the others that will come.

A co-production: aditus foundation, Subway Lab

Directors: Emmanuel Tut-Rah Farah, Alessandro Tesei

Country: Malta

Languages: English, Italian (with subtitles)

Duration: 56 minutes

Age-Classification: all

Photos taken during filming of Burning Bikinis
(ph: Emmanuel Tut Rah-Farah, Alessandro Tesei)

for more information contact: antonellasgobbo@aditus.org.mt or carlacamilleri@aditus.org.mt

The Burning Bikinis project has been sponsored by:

 

Screening of Burning Bikinis: Bikinis, Society, Women

Screening: 3rd March, 2017 @ 15:00 – Spazju Kreattiv at St James Cavalier, Valletta

“Attention girls: … Do not try to attract attention by laughing or talking loudly in a public place… Do not exaggerate in the clothes you wear. Boys are very often embarrassed if the girl they are with is wearing too mini a skirt, too much make-up or a dress which is too low cut. – Times of Malta, Friday June 7, 1968”

As an International Woman’s Day event aditus will screen its docu-film Burning Bikinis: Bikinis, Society, Women.

We have been researching and interviewing some amazing women (and men) in an attempt to document the collective memories of women’s movements in Malta from the 1960s up until present day. An almost total absence of public, academic and journalistic records attesting to Maltese female lobbies or organisations led to Antonella and Carla interviewing women, including women active in the 60s, 70s and 80s, and tracing those incidents, events and places that were so important to their struggles.

We spent days at the National Archives in Rabat, trawling through newspaper articles and also spoke to the new generation feminists!

(ph: Emmanuel Tut Rah-Farah, Alessandro Tesei)

All that we have are their voices and their testimony as the living record of those events. This film is a nod to them and to the others that will come. 

 

for more information contact: antonellasgobbo@aditus.org.mt or carlacamilleri@aditus.org.mt

Supported by    

    

Burning Bikinis – Bikinis, Society, Women

Click to Enlarge – Letter from Archbishop Gonzi to Prime Minister Borg Olivier, 28th June, 1969 – Courtesy of the National Archives, Cabinet Papers, 413/51

Antonella and Carla have been busy carrying out research for Burning Bikinis. This week they looked through relevant Cabinet Papers covering the years between 1964 and 1969 with the helpful assistance of Joseph at the National Archives in Rabat. The documents contained correspondence, memos and newspaper clippings of the furore surrounding the “deplorable state of public morals” (Ref: OPM/413/51 Memo 1348, Courtesy of the National Archives) and the suggestions of the setting up of a special branch in the Police Force to safeguard public morality.

Correspondence was also found between Archbishop Gonzi to Prime Minister Borg Olivier dated 28th June, 1969, as can be seen further up. In response to the letter a Memo was drafted and presented to cabinet, an excerpt can be seen below:

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Courtesy of the National Archives, OPM/413/51, Memo No. 1348. Click to Enlarge

Although the text was not adopted in full and references to the bikini were removed from the final Memo, the discourse surrounding what was morally acceptable beachwear and behaviour continued.

Furthermore, a number of interviews have been carried to with women active in various feminist movements in Malta in the 1970s and 1980s. These women were the primary movers in enabling the public to discuss fairer family laws, the possible introduction of divorce and abortion in those decades.

This information will be used for the final docufilm which will be released in the first quarter of next year. We are also eager to hear from anyone who was a young women in the 1960s and therefore please contact us on antonellasgobbo@aditus.org.mt or carlacamilleri@aditus.org.mt.

Watch this space !

For more information visit the Burning Bikinis project page

with the support of

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New project: Burning Bikinis!

Although we work extensively with anti-discrimination topics, we have only briefly touched on women’s rights and gender roles.

The Burning Bikinis project (1 March 2016 – 28 February 2017) will allow us to explore feminism in Malta from a historical perspective by looking at events that happened in Malta, through talking to those who lived it and adopting an introspective voice by inviting Malta to reflect on today’s role of women in the community.

We feel this is also relevant in the light of recent debates in Malta on the veil, and other cultural influences that impact the way Maltese women see themselves and are seen by society.

The aim of Burning Bikinis is ultimately for the community to reflect on recent history which remains largely unexplored, to take stock of it and to make it their own. 

Collective memory will be tapped into to elicit popular perceptions of gender stereotypes, their evolution and their impact on contemporary Maltese society. 

The next step would be for the public to use those events in order to analyse the effect this had on gender roles and on female emancipation in Malta.

Finally, the participants, readers, spectators will be made to consider the status quo 55 years later, to ask:what is the shape of Maltese feminism?

Visit the project page here.

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With the support of Arts Council Malta, Creative Communities.