FACT CHECK: THE SAME NONSENSE ABOUT THE PATRIARCHY

by TBA

On 8 July 2023, there was a strange similarity between the titles of two articles, one by Andrea Dibben in the Times of Malta (the newspaper that fails to fact checks itself, and the other a UN press release published half a world away in Australia’s The National Tribune newspaper. Both dealt with the same issue, the new abortion law in Malta. The subheading in Dibben’s article lamented that “patriarchy closes ranks when challenged.” The National Tribune’s heading said “Patriarchal culture still holding women back, UN experts say.” Same blame, published in the same day, by two different sources, far away from each other.

The question was: Why didn’t the Maltese government open the door wide open for abortion? Because of the patriarchy! The big, big and cursed PATRIARCHY! This was their common reply in a nutshell. 

Why did the Dibben of the University of Malta and the UN’s Dorothy Estrada-Tanck come to the same conclusion that it was the partriarchy’s fault? Because Estrada-Tanck’s report was no independent piece of work. Instead she was toured around Malta by local abortion and feminist activists who fed her their lines of what happened. They were what she described as her interlocutors. What evidence did they have for her that the patriarchy was at the root of the trimmed down abortion law? None. How could none be not-none? Because it sprouted in Dibben’s mind. In this age of identity politics what the Dibbens identify as truth in their mind is the truth. Except it isn’t.

Let’s take a look at Dibben’s article. This is all it had to say about the patriarchy despite the promising subtitle: “The new law clearly shows how patriarchy closes ranks whenever there is an attempt to resist it. Patriarchy can manifest in many forms and there is no point in speculating about what made the Labour government capitulate to its forces.” But speculating she is, in both sentences. In the first sentence she writes “The new law clearly shows how patriarchy…” No, Dibben, no. The new law doesn’t clearly show what you attribute to it. A seasoned researcher would hesitate to use the phrase “clearly shows” in the absence of conclusive data. Dibben not only fails to give us conclusive data, she gives us no data at all. In the second sentence, she speculates that the patriarchy forced Labour to capitulate. Again, no data, no proof. Just bile against Labour for not towing her line like the tourist from the UN did.

What data did the UN’s Dorothy Estrada-Tanck present about the patriarchy as the cause? None. If Dibben none, Estrada-Tanck none. This is all the Estrada-Tanck report, in the name of the UN, had to say about the patriarchy in her 10-page, single line spaced, report at the end of her 12-day mission to Malta: “During our visit, we have consistently heard from interlocutors [i.e., the Dibbens] that Malta is a conservative society with a patriarchal structure holding back women and girls from finding a genuinely equal place… We were also told that patriarchal views implying that women are less fit to lead have a considerable impact on women’s ability to participate in the…political life… Many interlocutors talked about the persistence of patriarchal attitudes and stereotypes… We recommend that… a centralised data system be set up as soon as possible [to tackle] the patriarchal culture of male domination… The traditional patriarchal family structure reinforces these inequalities and limits the potential of women and girls.”

UN’s Dorothy Estrada-Tanck

Estrada-Tanck’s claim that the patriarchal structure is holding women back from participating in political life is preposterousgiven that women candidates have two bites at the apple in Malta’s general elections.

Estrada-Tanck mentioned “patriarchy” five times in her report and on three of these five times she attributed it to interlocutors-told-me-so. She could have just as well said, I came, I saw, and I found nothing about the patriarchy. Just interlocutors whispering in her ear, groaning about the patriarchy with no data to back them up and the outlandish claim in both newspapers’ titles.