20 Facts About Agatha Barbara

Agatha Barbara was the first woman to serve as president of Malta, and remains the longest-serving woman Member of Parliament in Maltese political history.

Agatha Barbara's father worked as a tug master for the Royal Navy, and was very poorly paid.

Agatha Barbara's mother struggled to feed the nine children on her husband's wages.

Agatha Barbara had to work as an air raid warden and supervised one of the kitchens set up by the British military to feed the population.

Agatha Barbara became a member of the Malta Labour Party, was very active in party affairs, became member of the MLP executive committee, headed the party women's branch and founded the Women's Political Movement in Malta.

The clashes spurred Barbara to show what women could do, so when people encouraged her, she stood for election in 1947.

Agatha Barbara became the first and only woman among the 40 MPs, and she was the only woman candidate to successfully contest in ten consecutive elections, until 1982, when she resigned to become president.

Agatha Barbara became known as a warm defender of economic and social reforms.

Agatha Barbara was Malta's first and until the end of the 1990s only woman cabinet minister.

Agatha Barbara undertook comprehensive reforms: instituted compulsory full-time basic education for all children, established a teacher training college and special schools for the disabled, made secondary school free and provided science classes for both girls and boys.

Agatha Barbara participated in the demonstrations and was sentenced to 43 days "with hard labour".

When Mintoff came to power again in 1971, Agatha Barbara was appointed minister of education again.

Agatha Barbara worked to reduce unemployment and improve workers' pay and conditions and industrial relations.

Agatha Barbara introduced a law on equal pay for women and men, paid maternity leave, a 40-hour working week and retirement and unemployment benefits.

In 1976 Agatha Barbara became deputy chair of the MLP parliamentary group, but not of the party, and deputy prime minister.

Agatha Barbara took a prominent role in protecting Maltese heritage, playing a crucial role in the restoration of historic buildings in Mdina and Valletta, and promoting their use as museums.

Nevertheless, Mintoff took power, but instead of becoming minister, Agatha Barbara was appointed as the first woman president, 59 years old, on 15 February 1982.

Agatha Barbara appeared on a series of Maltese banknotes which were issued in 1986.

Agatha Barbara retired in Zabbar, where she was born, and died in 2002.

Maltese-Australian author Joseph Chetcuti claimed Agatha Barbara was a lesbian in his 2009 book on the LGBT history of Malta, based on interviews with her contemporaries.