New Straits Times
28 March 2008

Women's progress slowed by setbacks
By : Yong Huey Jiun and Tan Choe Choe

Wan Ubaidah Omar (left) is the first female member of the Kelantan executive council, while Datuk Dr Ng Yen Yen (centre) says the recent election is about winds of change. Meera Samanther says women's wings can influence decisions.	Although a record number of women contested in the 12th general election, their presence in parliament and state assemblies hasn't increased much. YONG HUEY JIUN and TAN CHOE CHOE find out why and what should be done. KIJANG assemblywoman and former senator Wan Ubaidah Omar now heads the women's development, family and health portfolio as the first female member of the Kelantan executive council.

In Terengganu, Puteri Umno chief Nordiana Shafie was the first woman candidate to contest in an election in the east coast state in 34 years, although she lost the Batu Buruk seat to Parti Keadilan Rakyat candidate Dr Syed Azman Syed Ahmad Nawawi.

And Minister of Women, Family and Community Development Datuk Dr Ng Yen Yen is a conspicuous figure as MCA's first-ever woman minister in the federal cabinet.

While women in power scored a series of "firsts" across the country, these feats were overshadowed by the March 8 election results.
Women command 10.81 per cent of the 222 parliamentary seats and 7.92 per cent of the 505 state seats, but that is only about one per cent more than in the 2004 polls, and far from the 30 per cent target set in the Ninth Malaysia Plan.

The world average for women's political participation is 16 per cent.

Ng said: "This election is not about women's failure. This election is about winds of change." Her party fielded women in 16 seats, up from 12 seats in the 2004 election.

"This is not because of women's weaknesses; neither is it because of women's quality. Anybody would have suffered the same fate."

In fact, the 12th general elections saw the highest number of women candidates fielded. The governing coalition and opposition fielded 130 women candidates, compared with 94 in the last elections.

This time around, Pas fielded 15 women candidates, up from nine in 2004.

In Selangor, 25 women candidates contested, the highest number among all states, and 11 emerged victorious.

The most industrialised state also set a record with the appointment of four women to its 10-member executive council.

Still, "the pace of change is too slow", said Dr Shanthi Thambiah, associate professor of the gender studies department at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at Universiti Malaya.

Even Rwanda and Pakistan had 35 to 45 per cent of women representation, she said, which was a clear indication that under-development or traditionally-conservative societies were not the only barriers impeding women's participation in politics.

In Malaysia's last elections, however, women were pitted against each other, effectively halving the number of seats they could win.

MCA's Carol Chew contended against DAP's Teresa Kok for the Seputeh parliamentary seat and Umno's Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil against PKR's Nurul Izzah Anwar for the Lembah Pantai parliamentary seat.

New young faces were also pitted against the more experienced.

While experience helped, Shanthi said, age was not the most critical factor in determining the choice of candidates.

Instead, she said there must be political will and commitment to serve the people and make things better for them.

Women's groups acknowledged the progress, but grumble that each step forward was nullified by another setback.

Maria Chin Abdullah, senior programme manager at Sisters in Islam, said: "These women were fielded in unwinnable seats."

Shanti said most parties generally fielded their strongmen in "safe" constituencies, noting that in the new cabinet, two male senators were appointed ministers and two as deputy ministers, with only one female senator, Datuk Dr Mashitah Ibrahim, as a deputy minister.

The Joint Action Group for Gender Equality (JAG) said women's participation needed to go beyond numbers to empower more women in decision-making roles. For this to happen, access to opportunities and removal of barriers for women were important, said Women's Aid Organisation president Meera Samanther.

Shanthi wanted to see more commitment at the party level. With their vast membership, women's wings, such as Wanita Umno, could exert pressure and influence decisions, she said.

She said Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said was the only remaining Wanita Umno minister, when there were three in the 2004 cabinet.

"Why aren't political parties, be they in the government or the opposition, fielding more women? Why isn't Wanita Umno lobbying for more women in the cabinet?"

The candidates do not even have to be affiliated to any political party as senators have also been drawn from the corporate sector.

Shanthi said one way to address the lack of women's participation was to create additional seats for women, rather than assigning them a quota within the existing number of seats.

JAG also hoped to bridge the gap between members of parliament and women's groups on issues such as legal reforms, civil society, freedom of information and local council elections. At the moment, women make up 12.5 per cent of local councils.

Dr Ng said she would review the representation of women on company boards.

Her plans included expanding the ministry's focus to women in the economy and collaborating with the Ministry of Human Resources on the issue of unemployed female graduates.

Shanthi said: "Greater democracy will lead to a greater desire for fairer representation of women.

"Any form of under-representation of any sector of the community is an insult to democracy."