Women Candidates Mere Checkbox For Political Parties Says Don

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Political parties are treating the percentage for women’s participation in politics as a checkbox to mark off.
ADSIn such cases, it doesn't matter to the party whether their women politicians are given power as long as the quota is met, said Monash University lecturer Benjamin Loh Yew Hoong.
He was alluding to parties that boasted about fielding a high percentage of women in the last general election, saying that many of these women did not go on to win.
"In most cases, for them (parties), it was just a checkbox that they needed to tick," he told a panel at an event organised jointly by the Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD) and Malaysiakini in Kuala Lumpur.
There are 28 female representatives in Parliament, which makes up 13.5 percent of the body.
Out of the 31 cabinet ministers, five are women - Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Azalina Othman Said; Women, Family and Community Development Minister Nancy Shukri; Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh; Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek and Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Federal Territories) Dr Zaliha Mustafa.
Hurdles to 30 pct goal
Last October, Pakatan Harapan women’s chief Aiman Athirah Sabu urged for the law to be changed so that 30 percent of parliamentary seats would be allocated to women candidates.
She suggested implementing a special incentive scheme to reward political parties that achieve the 30 percent threshold of women candidates and urged the cabinet to deliberate on it.
WFD country director Ooi Kok Hin said Malaysia has never had more than 15 percent female representation in Parliament.
"And this issue is certainly not caused by culture and so on, but rather what is termed structural barriers," he explained.
One such structural barrier is socioeconomic background, as a woman in the B40 income group will not be able to pursue political ambitions due to child-caring expectations, he added.
He cited a 2022 study conducted by WFD titled “Women’s political leadership in the Asean region”.
The study noted that surmounting financial barriers is the largest challenge for women in politics.
Ooi said other factors such as disproportionate gender-based violence affecting young women politicians also come into play. - Mkini

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