The women were in the kitchen

I have two observations about this photograph, of one of Lord Strickland’s public meetings 80 years ago, which was published in the Times of Malta yesterday.

1. There isn’t a single woman in that large crowd. Or girl. They are all men and boys. So fine, women didn’t have the vote so why would they bother going to a political meeting about how people should vote? Maybe because they should have taken an interest. Maybe because they should have known and made the point that public gatherings of that nature were not just for men. Maybe because they should have felt some sense of involvement. This really is a new democracy, isn’t it? Pictures of public meetings in Britain – even before women had the vote – are thick with women of all sorts, though mainly the sort who would have been in the street anyway, admittedly.

2. How odd it is to see at least one corner of Sliema that is still instantly recognisable today in a photograph that is 80 years old or more. That is Annunciation Square, and the only things that have changed since in that corner are the shop signs.