Only 37 women out of 239 candidates will contest in the upcoming Johor elections.
That’s hardly 15 per cent of women being represented, as highlighted by a Malaysian lawmaker.
Klang Member of Parliament Charles Santiago also pointed out that only 14.9 per cent of the 222 seats in Parliament were held by women.
“This is not about messy tangles that can’t be straightened out. It’s about the nonchalance, and the absolute absence of a political will, to see more women in politics,” said Santiago in his International Women’s Day statement, earlier today.
He added, “‘Gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow’ is the United Nations Women’s theme for Women’s Day this year.
“In Malaysia, many are struggling to grasp the meaning.”
“UN Women coined the theme to show a direct relationship between gender, social equity, and climate change. And to drill it into us that their lives and livelihoods remain at risk as women have less access to natural resources, and in their own words, ‘bear a disproportionate responsibility to secure water, food, and fuel’.”
Santiago said while Malaysia had ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) said the country was trailing behind in terms of women in politics, their economic participation, and literacy rates.
“Sometimes, numbers don’t mean much. According to the Malaysia Gender Gap Index last year, the country’s gender equality has improved by 74 per cent. Yet, Loh Siew Hong had to fight tooth and nail to see her children just because her ex-husband had converted them unilaterally.”
The Kuala Lumpur High Court, on Feb 21, had allowed Loh’s habeas corpus application and ordered her three children to be released to her, from the Welfare Department’s care. She was granted sole custody of the children by the High Court after her divorce in 2019, but the alleged victim of domestic violence lost contact with her children for three years after she was hospitalised.
Her ex-husband, an Indian-Muslim convert, took the children to Perlis and arranged for them to be converted to Islam.
Santiago also highlighted the plight of M. Indira Gandhi, who is still trying to find her daughter Prasana, after the latter was unilaterally converted to Islam by her ex-husband, an Indian Muslim convert who now goes by the name of Muhammad Ridzuan Abdullah.
“As I write this, Indira Gandhi is still trying to find her daughter who was kidnapped by her ex-husband, upon his conversion, despite a court order.”
Santiago added that the empowerment of women and girls also helped to meet the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, such as education and eradicating poverty.
“In addition, many areas such as gender and poverty, physical and sexual harassment, women’s access to assets (including land), and gender and the environment – lack comparable methodologies for regular monitoring.
“It’s important for us to note that while the cases of domestic violence had increased dramatically during the Covid-19 pandemic, the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry had failed to implement mechanisms to protect women from sexual harassment, sexual violence, and physical violence. In fact, women activists gave the ministry a ‘failed’ rating for its first 100 days.
“Therefore, while it’s important to mark an occasion, it doesn’t mean that all is well on the ground.”
Santiago, however, said he was encouraged to see many women continue to speak out against injustice.
“Although there is much more to be done, on this International Women’s Day, I will celebrate the courage and conviction of women who won’t give up; who, again and again, stand up against tyranny.
“As Maya Angelou once said: ‘Each time a woman stands up for herself, without knowing it possibly, without claiming it, she stands up for all women’.”
