Helena Dalli | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Dalli in 2023 | |
| European Commissioner for Equality | |
| In office 1 December 2019 – 30 November 2024 | |
| Commission | Von der Leyen I |
| Preceded by | Věra Jourová (Justice and Consumers) |
| Succeeded by | Hadja Lahbib |
| Minister for European Affairs and Equality | |
| In office 9 June 2017 – 24 July 2019 | |
| Prime Minister | Joseph Muscat |
| Preceded by | Louis Grech |
| Succeeded by | Edward Zammit Lewis |
| Minister for Social Dialogue, Consumer Affairs and Civil Liberties | |
| In office 13 March 2013 – 5 June 2017 | |
| Prime Minister | Joseph Muscat |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Helena Abela (1962-09-29)29 September 1962 (age 63) |
| Party | Labour Party |
| Other political affiliations | Party of European Socialists |
| Education | University of Nottingham University of Malta |
Helena Dalli (néeAbela; born 29 September 1962) is a Maltese politician who served asEuropean Commissioner for Equality from 1 December 2019 to 30 November 2024.[1][2] She is a member of theLabour Party.[3][4]
Before entering politics, Dalli worked as a model and actress. At 17, Dalli won Miss Malta, and represented the country atMiss World 1979. She subsequently appeared in the 1985 movieFinal Justice as a policewoman who partners with the protagonist. After the failure of the film, she left acting and entered politics, working with Labour Party leaderDom Mintoff.[5]
In 1996, Dalli was elected to theParliament of Malta and appointed Parliamentary Secretary for Women's Rights in the Office of the Prime Minister. She was re-elected during the five subsequent elections, making her the second most electedwoman in Maltese political history.[6]
During her two-year tenure, she put forwards aChildcare Bill to provide for regulations of childcare services both in the public and the private sector, and took care of the drafting of theGender Equality Bill with the assistance of theUnited Nations Development Programme.[7] Dalli also launched Malta's first white paper on domestic violence.[8]
During the2013–2017 legislature, Dr Dalli was Minister for Social Dialogue, Consumer Affairs and Civil Liberties. Under her direction, the Maltese Government introduced several laws and policies to strengthen the equality and human rights framework, including aCivil Unions Act as well as the widening of the anti-discrimination protections in the Maltese constitution to cover the grounds of gender identity and sexual orientation.[9][10][11]
In April 2015, she presented a law establishing wide-ranging rights fortransgender and intersex people. TheGender Identity Gender Expression and Sex Characteristics Act provides for a right to gender identity and the recognition of one's self-determined gender on official documents, and recognises a right to bodily integrity and physical autonomy.[12]
During the same legislature, Dalli introduced a national maternity leave fund to which all employers contribute regardless of the gender of their employees, in order to protect women against discrimination during the recruitment process.[13]
_Protocol_to_CEDAW_(March_2019).jpg)
In 2015, Helena Dalli led the process for the establishment of the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, which the UN now commemorates annually on 11 February.[14][15] Dalli was also instrumental for the restructuring of the Malta Medicines Authority.
Dalli was re-elected from two districts in the2017 general election. At the start of the new session, she presented to Parliament a Bill to introduce marriage equality (same-sex marriage).[16][17] Dalli's work in the equality sector led Malta to become the country affording the best legal protection and equality for LGBTIQ people. As a result, Malta has retained the top spot of theILGA-Europe country index for four consecutive years.[18][19]
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During both terms as a Minister, Dalli worked to enhance Malta's human rights and equality structures and their independence, as well as dialogue with civil society and social partners.[20][21] In view of this, she set up a Human Rights and Equality Directorate that is responsible for Government policy on gender equality and gender mainstreaming, LGBTIQ equality, and migrant integration and anti-racism.[22] She also set up an LGBTIQ Consultative Council, a Consultative Council for Women's Rights and a Forum on Integration Affairs.[23][24][25] Following a long and multi-step consultation process, she presented anEquality Bill and aHuman Rights and Equality Commission Bill that aim to instil the highest standards in terms of anti-discrimination and equality in all spheres of life, and the setting up of an independent national human rights institution in line with theParis Principles of theUnited Nations andEuropean Union equality directives.[26][27]
Following the2019 European elections, Dalli was nominated by the government of Prime Minister Muscat as Malta's candidate for the subsequentEuropean Commission.[28]
In 2019, Dalli was made the European Commissioner forEquality in thevon der Leyen Commission. HerPortfolio included leading on EU implementation of theUN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, developing a European 'gender strategy' to further improvewomen's rights by improving pay transparency and ensuring implementation of the Women on Boards Directive,[29] ensuring implementation of theWork-Life Balance Directive, exploring the addition of 'violence against women' to the list of EU crimes and supporting EU accession to the Istanbul Convention.[30]
In November 2021, Dalli launched internal EU guidelines forinclusive language, including saying "holiday season" instead of Christmas, avoiding gendered phrases such as "ladies and gentlemen" (eg "Dear All"), and to use names such as "Malika and Julio" for fictional people rather than "Maria and John". The guidelines were criticised by politicians includingAntonio Tajani ofForza Italia and formerDemocratic PartyPrime Minister of ItalyMatteo Renzi, and were eventually withdrawn.[31][32]Pope Francis compared the measures to anti-Christian dictatorships in revolutionary France, Nazi Germany and the communist world.[33]
In the same month, French ministersMarlène Schiappa andClément Beaune criticised Dalli for meeting representatives ofFEMYSO France considers to be linked to theMuslim Brotherhood.[34][35][36]
Dalli holds a PhD in Political Sociology from theUniversity of Nottingham,[37] and lectures in Economic and Political Sociology, Public Policy, and Sociology of Law at theUniversity of Malta.[38]
In 2016, Dalli was the first Maltese nominee and winner of the European Diversity Award for her work in human rights and equality at the local and international level.[39][40]
In 2019, Dalli was presented, on behalf of Malta, with the Diversa Internacional award by the Spanish Association of Lawyers and Lawyers against Hate Crimes, in recognition of her work for equality on both the domestic and international fronts.[41]
In 2021, Dalli was presented an award by the Spanish Government in recognition of the robustness of the EU LGBTIQ Equality Strategy 2020–2025. Months later, she received an award on behalf of the European Commission from PROUD, an organisation working for LGBTIQ equality in Czechia, for the same strategy.
Media related toHelena Dalli at Wikimedia Commons
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Miss World 1979 national titleholders | |
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