SIBU: Women have been urged to boldly step to the front now that the government has allowed more room for them to rise up to leadership positions.
Bukit Assek assemblywoman Irene Chang in her message in conjunction with International Women’s Day said that women need to realise that they can contribute positively to society.
This year’s theme of Women’s Day, which falls tomorrow (March 8), is “Balance is better”, meaning that a balanced world of both men and women contributing equally in the social, economic and political platforms would make a better world for everyone.
“For instance, international studies have shown that gender equality in business has significant benefits which includes a higher performance and improved reputation of companies which practice gender equality,” she said.
She pointed out that for the political platform, the future of a more equal representation of women in leadership positions looks increasingly promising in Malaysia, especially given the appointment of five full women ministers (including a Deputy Prime Minister) and four women deputy ministers into the ministerial cabinet under the PH federal government after the 14th General Election (GE14).
“This is the most women representation in the ministerial cabinet in the history of Malaysia and their appointments speak loudly of an acknowledgment by the federal government of women’s ability to contribute meaningfully to the political landscape of the country,” she said.
As for the parliamentary seats, Chang said women representation has increased from 10.4 per cent (23 seats out of 222 parliamentary seats) before GE14 to 14.4 per cent (32 seats out of 222 parliamentary seats) after GE14 as in accordance to the statistic provided by the Inter-Parliamentary Union as at January 1 this year.
“This augers well for the women in Malaysia as the increase of female representation is indicative that the federal government acknowledges that striving for more female representation and gender diversity in politics as well as in the social and economic platforms would produce real benefits for our country,’ she added.
She suggested that beside the political and economical aspects, more awareness should also be raised and cultivated among the women of their ability to contribute to the social aspect by refusing to allow themselves to become or continue to be victims of domestic violence and other abuse cases.
“Data from the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry last year showed that 50,658 cases of rape, incest, molestation, sexual harassment and domestic violence were recorded from 2013 to May last year.
“These statistics are shocking as it works out to an average of more than 10,000 cases per year,” she said.
To counter this, more awareness should be created for the need to respect and appreciate women and their contributions to the family, society and country and these should be cultivated from a young age.
“Children should be taught to respect the women in their lives and in society and this can be done by celebrating Women’s Day in schools and to allow it to form an integral part of the school curriculum in order to spread the awareness of women empowerment and achievements,” she continued.
Chang hoped that the PH government would seriously consider this as education might go a long way toward advocating against domestic violence and other sexual offences against women.
