Agatha Barbara

Agatha Barbara was the third President of the Republic of Malta between the 16th of February 1982 and the 15th of February 1987.

Born in Zabbar on the 11th of March 1923, she worked with the Air Raid Precautions (ARP) and as a supervisor in the victory kitchen during World War II. She later joined the Education Department as a teacher (1942-1947).

Barbara entered the political scene in 1946 and the following year she successfully contested the general elections with the Labour Party to become the first female member of the Legislative Assembly.

She supported Dom Mintoff during the Labour Party split in 1949 and elected in all general elections between 1950 and 1981, enjoying a parliamentary seat from November 1947 up to February 1982.

In 1955 she was the first female to be given a cabinet portfolio (Minister for Education) and so far she is the only Maltese woman to be elected in ten consecutive elections. She also acted as Deputy Prime Minister on various occasions.

In April 1958 she was sentenced to 43 days imprisonment with hard labour for picketing during the one-day national strike in protest against the suspension of the constitution by the British government. In 1961 she was the founder and first president of the women's section of the MLP.

In 1983 she was honoured with the Stara Planina by the state council of the People's Republic of Bulgaria, and later decorated with a Ph.D. in Pedagogy (Honoris Causa) by the University of Beijing, China. In 1990, she was made Companion of Honour of the National Order of Merit (KUOM) of Malta.

She died on 4 February 2002.