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©The
Sunday Star (Used by permission)
by Hariati Azizan
Malaysian women may have travelled a long journey to break the glass ceiling but
they still have some way to go to truly achieve gender equality in the country.
WOMEN currently make up about 26% of the top positions in the public sector of
Malaysia. The female to male ratio of students in the country’s tertiary
education meanwhile has been consistently around 70:30.
All this augurs well for the Government’s policy to achieve a 30% quota of women
at all levels of decision-making in the country, set in place in the Ninth
Malaysia Plan.
But is it enough?
At the National Women’s Day celebrations recently, Women, Family and Community
Development Minister Datuk Dr Ng Yen Yen highlighted that much still needs to be
done if we are to achieve that target.
According to a report by her ministry, women’s representation in the top ranks
of the corporate sector is still low. More pertinently, it revealed that while
the number of women in senior management has increased, the number of women
appointed to boards of directors has decreased. The number of women in senior
management increased to 24% last year compared with 13.9% in 2005 while the
number of women inducted into company boards decreased to 5.3% last year from
10.2% in 2005.
Dr Ng pointed out that even in government-linked companies (GLCs), women made up
only 14% of their board of directors last year.
Women’s rights activist Maria Chin Abdullah agrees that on the whole, women’s
participation in the decision-making process of the country is still below par.
“At the rate we are going, I don’t think we will achieve the 30% target any time
soon,” she says, citing the performance of women in politics as an example.
“The 12th general election showed that women are doing better but if you look at
the figures closely, we still have a long way to go.”
According to statistics compiled by Empower, a non-governmental organisation
working with marginalised groups in the community, the total number of women
candidates went up from 94 in 2004 to 131 (not including Sarawak) in the recent
elections, but women constitute about just 10.8% of the MPs today, compared with
10.5% in 2004 and 6.8% in 1995.
It is also worth noting that the country has seen no more than 10 women
ministers. At present, there are only two women ministers and five deputy
ministers.
Maria argues that under-representation at the top levels of public office puts
women at a serious disadvantage. “If there were enough women in parliament,
women’s concerns would be better taken care of and there would be less evidence
of sexist or insensitive attitudes among our lawmakers,” she states.
Statistics by the Inter-Parliamentary Union on the representation of women in
parliaments around the world show that as of June this year, Malaysia ranks 100
out of 142 countries, she adds.
“We even lag behind some Asean countries in the representation of women in
parliament, as compared with Singapore’s 24.5%, Thailand’s 11.7% and Indonesia’s
11.6%,” she says.
Gaining recognition
Puteri Umno chief Datuk Noraini Ahmad, meanwhile, believes that Malaysia is
beginning to open up to the potential of women in leadership positions.
“We saw it in the recent elections. Most parties fielded young women and many of
them won big,” she says.
The Deputy Human Resources Minister, however, admits that her own journey has
not been easy.
When she first entered the political arena as a 25-year-old research and finance
manager for the Parliament Backbenchers’ Club, she had to work doubly hard to
prove herself.
“People always have this misconception about women at work – you are either too
aggressive or too manja manja (cutesy),” she recalls. “I was determined to show
that with my education and hard work, I could do it (my job) as well as a man.”
Noraini acknowledges that greater efforts are needed to create more space for
women in the top ranks of leadership, especially in politics.
“Women are very active at the lower ranks and grassroots level but when it comes
to holding top positions, we lose out. It is still a man’s world, unfortunately,
and more opportunities need to be given to women to lead instead of playing a
supporting role.”
Rawang assemblyman Gan Pei Nei concurs.
“The chances for women to get involved in the different sectors like academia,
politics and corporate are high but it’s not so easy for them to get a position
that reflects their capabilities. There are still internal barriers,” she says.
Still, as highlighted by Dr Ng earlier last week, some women are having problems
in even getting a foot into the door.
She noted that although more women are getting tertiary level qualification,
participation of women in the workforce is relatively low with only 3.8 million
women compared to 6.8 million men. This comes up to 46% of the total labour
force, which is meagre compared with 70% in developed countries. A recent United
Nations survey highlighted that the dearth of employment opportunities for women
carries a heavy economic cost for nations; in Malaysia, it reported, RM154bil is
lost when women seeking jobs are turned down.
Breaking stereotype
Hence, many lauded Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s pledge to
review laws and regulations that are gender discriminatory at the recent
national Women’s Day celebrations.
“We want women to be successful and have never practised policies which prevent
them from moving up the ranks. If there is any sort of discrimination, this is
due to certain laws which need to be reviewed,” he was quoted.
Human rights activist Masjaliza Hamzah concurs that various laws, both civil and
Syariah, need to be reviewed to comply with the amendment made to the
Constitution in 2001 to prohibit gender discrimination – an amendment in line
with the United Nations Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women, ratified by Malaysia in 1995.
“The basis is there, so you don’t have to invent a new wheel to change things.
But about seven years after its amendment, it still has not trickled down to all
the other laws. Discrimination against women is still rife as they continue to
suffer avoidable challenges by virtue of their gender,” she says.
According to the 2007 Global Gender Gap Index (which measures economic
participation and opportunity, political empowerment, education attainment and
health and survival), the status of women dropped 20 places compared with 2006.
Malaysia was ranked 92nd out of 128 countries (down from 72 last year), behind
our Asean counterparts Philippines (6th), Vietnam (42nd), Thailand (52nd),
Singapore (77th) and Indonesia (81st).
The latest statistics also revealed that in addition to women’s poor showing in
boards of directors and parliament, they fare poorly in other sectors: 22% of
professors in public universities; 29% of senators; 6.9% of state assembly
representatives and 12.5% of local councillors.
One law that the Government had said they would review soon is the Employment
Act 1955, to eliminate gender discrimination at the workplace. The review
includes the provision for “flexi-hour” approach in the workplace, which will
help women to balance work and family.
Noraini says the review is timely as unemployment is high among women, including
graduates.
“Many women are forced to choose between work and the home when they start a
family,” she says.
“Another is the problem of mismatch between the skills of graduates churned out
and demand in the workforce. As we know, it is a problem with all our graduates
but the problem seems to be bigger with our female graduates.”
A reason quoted for women’s low employability is their lack of soft skills such
as communication, teamwork and problem solving.
Maria points out that this can be attributed to years of social conditioning.
“Many women lack confidence in the public arena. Their rightful place is seen in
the domestic sphere – as mothers and wives, not as breadwinners and leaders.
“And the discriminatory and sexist way we have been bringing up girls has
manifested in society. For example, girls get opportunities to go to school but
some schools are enforcing the rule that the leaders in the schools, especially
the head prefect, have to be male.
“Another example is that girls get equal opportunity for higher education, and
they do very well, but they are still subordinate to men in the institution,
workplace or at home,” she contends.
It has been proven that these discriminatory attitudes, practices and unequal
power relations between women and men within the family and community usually
lead to inequalities in the public arena, she adds.
Gan believes that the situation will not improve until sexist stereotypes of
women are erased.
“You can see this in the national political scene. When it comes to woman
politicians, the spotlight is still on their looks and their personal life,” she
says.
“Like in the last elections, a few Chinese papers carried stories on the most
beautiful candidates. The focus should be on our capabilities as politicians.”
Masjaliza agrees, saying the crux of the problem is the fundamental stereotypes
and assumptions about women that still exist in society, not just in the
workplace or political realm.
“Malaysian women have progressed a lot, but there is still a lot to be desired
about the perception on women. For example, the way women are dressed is still
an issue for many,” she says.
But Maria is more optimistic, having seen a change in public perception on women
and their rights since she first joined the women’s movement in the 1980s.
“Unfortunately, the issues still exist at varying degrees. To address them, more
commitment is needed from everybody – the Government, authorities and general
public,” she notes.
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