Female Politicians Share Experiences Of Gender Based Violence Misogyny

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During a panel discussion today, current and former female politicians shared experiences of gender-based violence and misogynistic attacks against them.
Acting president of Muda Amira Aisya Abdul Aziz (above) said she experienced a coordinated attack on her looks when making her political debut.
"I remember the things they were saying about me, really vile things that you can never really imagine someone saying about you.
"Things like... 'baru umur 25 tahun nampak macam dah menyusukan anak 10 (she's only 25 years of age but she looks like she has breastfed 10 children already)'," the Puteri Wangsa assemblyperson said.
At a panel organised by the Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD) and Malaysiakini in Kuala Lumpur, she said she was prepared to face scrutiny as a woman in politics.
However, she said she quickly realised that the reality was worse than she had thought.
The incident made her anxious about continuing in the election.
Muda’s Amira Aisya Abdul Aziz (centre-left) and DAP’s Pang Sock Tao (centre-right) at a forum jointly organised by Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD) and Malaysiakini on March 3, 2025.Another panellist, DAP's Pang Sock Tao, also shared that attacks on her had given her anxiety about being fielded as a candidate.
Pang, who won the Kuala Kubu Baharu by-election last year, said she faced rumours of being an MCA member.
"This is a very bad accusation not because they accused me of being a member of MCA, but because that particular accusation actually implied that I had a close relationship with a man in MCA - someone I never knew," she said.
She also grappled with comments on her looks and her weight.
"When reporters asked me, 'how do you feel about the comments on your looks and appearances?'
"I actually answered, ‘I'm okay with it because I'm not (actress) Fan Bingbing,” she said humorously.
Manifesto overshadowed by fixation on looks
Jo-Anna Sue Henley Rampas, who contested in 2018 and 2022 under Warisan in Sabah, criticised the media's fixation on her looks.
She said headlines often painted her as a beauty queen turned politician due to her being a former Unduk Ngadau (harvest festival) beauty pageant queen.
"The thing is, I would like to push the manifestos, the plans for my constituency at that time," she said.
Rampas has since left politics and is now an independent researcher.
Police report lodged to break cycle
Amira went on to speak about how she had dealt with the harassment directed towards her, saying she lodged a police report on the matter later.
She expressed anger that such incidents were viewed as commonplace and that women in politics were expected to deal with comments on their looks.
"During that time, at the press conference I held, I told them when I lodged this police report I was not just doing this for me, I was doing it for all the other young women that will come to politics, that will have to face this," she said.
If she didn't, she said she would have been complicit in continuing the cycle of normalising this behaviour towards women. - Mkini

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