 The country's women need some empowering
While around the world women's achievements in fields such as medicine,
the arts, politics and film are celebrated, in Malaysia women are
apparently a problem for men. The secretary-general of the Congress of
Unions of Employees in the Public and Civil Service (Cuepacs), Ahmad
Shah Mohd Zin, complained recently that too many women were in
decision-making roles in the administrative and diplomatic service. Is
Ahmad Shah afraid his own job might be taken over by the fairer sex?
Incredibly,
the National Population and Family Development Board's message,
reported in mainstream papers on March 11, was to make more babies and
not put off marriage. Apparently, fertility rates had dropped from 3.4
in 1995 to 2.2 in 2007. Why is Malaysia obsessed with quantity and not
quality? Or rather, why are men fascinated with size? Has it to do with
what's in their pants? Are women only good for procreating? If those in
senior civil-service positions perform well, then does it matter if
they wear a skirt or wear trousers? If smaller families enjoy a good
standard of living, are happier, can communicate better, have children
with access to education, then are these of little or no consequence?
If a woman delays marriage to grab opportunities that will eventually
benefit her family, is that wrong? Maybe men have greater difficulty in
appreciating women's capabilities and determination? Stories of the
abuse of women -- sexual assaults, low pay and abandoned wives, feature
in the news daily.
Women may have made their presence felt in
the public sector, but contrary to what the Cuepacs secretary-general
says, they do not dominate it. Statistics on Women, Family and Social
Welfare 2009 show that there are only two female secretaries-general
out of 24 ministries (8.3 percent), 12 female director-generals out of
70 departments (17.1 percent) and 11 female chief-executives out of 71
federal statutory bodies (15.5 percent).
In politics, males have
been acting with increasing incompetence and immaturity. Men like
Zulkifli Nordin and Ibrahim Ali, the leaders of Malay nationalist
organizations, feel the need to inflame, incite and instigate with
their racist rhetoric. One hopes a capable woman in a similar situation
would have appealed to a person's innate good qualities, to inform,
improve and inspire.
Where women are concerned, a dichotomy
exists. They are told of the need to breed more, and yet more babies
are abandoned. In reported cases of illicit sex, the women are whipped
and humiliated in the national press, but the men's role is diminished
and hardly mentioned. In high profile divorce cases, the women are
portrayed as gold-diggers but the thousands of men who fail to pay
maintenance to their ex-wives and children escape justice.
A
Women's Aid Organization survey revealed in 1989 that 1.8 million or 39
percent of women over 15 were beaten by their husbands or boyfriends.
Yet, only 909 women made a police report.
Modern Malaysia has
more educated women who are also major or sole breadwinners. Although
it ranks 77th in terms of gender gap in educational attainment, there
exists a wide chasm in economic participation and political
empowerment. Cultural upbringing digs deep into women's psyche and they
have difficulty extricating themselves from outdated beliefs. They
cling to the notion that husbands or boyfriends automatically qualify
as the head of the household, to bully, dominate and control them.
Gender-equality
is rarely practiced in Malaysia. When Manohara Odelia Pinot, the royal
Indonesian teenage bride, sought refuge in Singapore, alleging abuse at
the hands of her husband, her pleas for help were ignored. The Deputy
Prime Minister, Muhyiddin Yassin, said that the Malaysian government
"did not want to get involved." or "be dragged into this", and "to
leave it as it is".
Any allegation of violence has to be
investigated. No one is above the law. Nor should there be two sets of
rules to cover royalty and the masses. The DPM's conflicting messages
only encourage discrimination against women. His statements contradict
the Government of Malaysia's stand on women's equality. (National
Policy on Women 1989, UN Fourth World Conference on Women 1995, Action
Plan for Women in Development 1997, formation of Women's Affairs
Ministry 2001).
Both palace and politicians have devalued the
role of women in the home and in politics. Violence against women is a
crime and laws do exist to protect the rights of vulnerable women. But
the laws that promote gender equality are few and the ones that
guarantee protection against discrimination are weak.
Women's
representation in parliament falls short of the 30 percent target in
the 1995 Global Platform for Action, although women comprise half the
total population and 40 percent of the workforce. When it comes to
formulating laws pertaining to women (eg divorce, property, and tax),
men neither want to accommodate women's views nor relinquish power.
They possibly fear working with women. Instead of striving for the
common good of women and society as a whole, men demand that
decision-making be left to them.
Malaysian female politicians
are allowed to debate a proposed bill in parliament, but are banned
from voting for what they feel is the right decision, or what their
conscience dictates. They are forced to toe the party line and act
subservient. Incredibly, politicians like Bung Radin who insult them in
parliament, are not censured.
Malaysia's current female
politicians are disappointingly of the wrong calibre and range from
timid to tainted. The Perak BN senior exco member, Hamidah Osman said
that females could not become chief ministers because the minister, in
the course of her duties, would have to meet religious officers and the
Sultan. Hamidah's other claim to fame is her derogatory comparison of
Indians and snakes that earned her the pseudonym ‘snake woman'. But
women can just as easily betray their party. When Hee Yit Foong
defected from the Pakatan Rakyat party, her action helped precipitate
the downfall of the Perak government. She remains one of the most
reviled women in Malaysia today and is also known as ‘frog' or
‘traitor'.
The list is not limited to peninsular Malaysia
either. In Sarawak, Fatimah Abdullah, Assistant Minister in the Chief
Minister's Department, failed to speak up for Penan girls who were
raped and sexually exploited by the timber loggers. Nor is the list
exclusive to politicians. Wives of senior politicians have also been
known further their husbands' careers using creative methods.
While
it is the responsibility of all politicians to advance the rights of
women, the female representatives themselves need to be prickly to
promote equality and justice for their sex. They need to demonstrate
commitment and passion. And women in Malaysia, regardless of their race
or religion, must show their determination to save this nation by
making a stand. Sometimes it is not the other sex that we have to worry
about but one's own. Women's contribution can have tremendous impact on
progress and growth. But then, where are the women of note in Malaysia?
Might
Malaysia's problems be solved by a woman's long-term vision? If a
mother is the glue that holds a family together, why can't a woman be
the person that cements communities together? A mother usually
considers all her children, with their different foibles, equally
deserving of her love. So why can't a woman lead Malaysia out of its
depressing state?
It won't be an overnight transition as the
resistance to the leadership of women would be fierce. But few people
realize that the windscreen wiper was invented by a woman named Mary
Anderson in 1905. It was probably her predilection for clear vision
through glass, or her fastidiousness with clean windows, that made her
invent them.
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The grim truth of war remains: hearts and minds are lost in the campaign to get the enemy by the balls
The government backs down on a tycoon's sports betting plan
Too many men in Asian societies have not enough courage or masculinity.
They are afraid of the smallest things, and see threats where there are none.
That's why they look around for something trivial to pick on.
It's easy to pick on women, I guess.
It takes a real man to function well in a modern, professional, unbiased setting.
Like my boyfriend, who treats me as an equal.