Having more women in parliament will help ensure a more gender sensitive and equal society, says Engender Consultancy founder and managing director Omna Sreeni-Ong.
“The pandemic has had a devastating social economic effect, disproportionately impacting women and girls and derailing hard won days in gender equality. As such, parliamentarians, including women leaders and activists at the highest level of government, have a significant role in ensuring a gender responsive recovery to build back better and make our society more inclusive and equal,” says Omna.
The role of women parliamentarians is to facilitate the progress of gender equality – especially gender sensitive policies, legislations and processes – in society, she says.
Omna was speaking at the recent Roundtable on The Role of Parliamentarians in Advancing Gender Equality: Towards a Stronger, Resilient Recovery which was a collaboration between Engender Consultancy and the Taiwan Economic and Cultural Office (Malaysia) (TECOM).
TECOM representative Anne Hung says that the economic fallout caused by the Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in a regressive effect on gender equality.
“Women’s jobs are found to be 1.8 times more vulnerable than men’s jobs during the pandemic because of gender inequality. In addition, women make up 39% of global employment but account for 54% of overall job losses,” says Hung, referring to the McKinsey report Covid-19 Impact On Women And Gender Equality (2020).
The report also says that the more policy makers and leaders push for reforms even as the Covid-19 crisis continues, the better the results in terms of gender equality and economic growth, she says.
A case in point
Hung reveals that based on the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) method (self-evaluation), Taiwan is rated sixth in the world and first in Asia in terms of gender equality.
“More women are able to actively participate in parliament and policy decision making, as well as public and private sectors as evidenced by the rather high percentage of women in our national legislature at 42%,” she says.
“Notably, Taiwan’s first female president Tsai Ing-wen actively promotes gender equality and the achievements are the results of decades of joint effort between the government and public/private sector,” she adds.
But the glass ceiling is high and the battle is far from over.
“Therefore we need to continue to learn from our global partners. We continue to share periodic reports on our progress and key milestones through international platforms,” says Hung.
Omna says that there is much to be learnt from the example of Taiwan and other countries.
But while both Taiwan and Malaysia have made strides in advancing gender equality, there are still persistent gaps remaining across economic opportunity and participation, health, leadership, political empowerment and education, says Omna.
“The Covid-19 pandemic has exacerbated these inequalities – where women and girls along with vulnerable communities are the most affected,” she says.
According to the McKinsey report, if we take action now against gender inequality, it can add US$13trill (RM54trill) to global GDP by 2030. So governments that put gender at the heart of their agenda will reap the rewards, she adds.
Gender agenda
Women and human rights activist and MP Maria Chin Abdullah stresses that the current policies and actions aren’t sufficient and there’s an urgent need to make sure that growth and development in any country, including Malaysia, include gender.
“The pandemic was a triple shock – on our health, economy, and globally causing a recession. These have badly impacted the position of women and we need to make Malaysia move towards a more inclusive society,” says Maria.
“Gender must be seen as interrelated with the issues of poverty, jobs, violence, health, and education, in order to have lasting solutions. It affects everyone, whether men or women,” she says.
“We need to mainstream gender equality so that politically, socially and economically, we’re able to have a whole of society approach where not just civil societies or ministers are involved, but also the public and private sector,” she adds.
“When we talk about gender mainstreaming during the pandemic, we need to invest in five areas – education, family planning, maternal mortality, digital inclusion, and unpaid carework – which impact everyone,” she says.
“In Malaysia, we need structural interventions with a strong social protection or net system that actually provides financial assistance as well as incentives to deal with poverty because it affects all women, children, older people, people with disability and the marginalised,” she says.
Maria also highlights the issue of unpaid childcare.
There is more burden on women during the pandemic with increased tension and domestic violence in households.
“Women who are out of the workforce are underutilised labour. By the age of 35, most of the women leave the labour force to take care of childcare in the household and family.
“How we handle childcare can increase women’s participation in the labour force,” says Maria.
Taiwan has made great progress in the area of gender equality.
The Pan Pacific and South East Asia Women’s Association (PPSEAWA) (Taiwan) president Dr Mandy Chen highlights that in 1998, Taiwan became the first country in Asia to enact the domestic violence prevention act.
“In 1999, the local government increased the reserved seats and quota for women to one fourth in all representatives elected.
“In 2002, it amended the gender equality law to address the issue of discrimination in the workplace.
“In 2011, the guideline gender equality policy was approved and the enforcement act over Cedaw was passed. The following year, 2012, the Commission on Women’s Rights Promotion (CWRP) established the Foundation of Women’s Rights Promotion and Development (FWRPD) and the Ministry of Interior allocated a TW$1bil (RM15mil) fund to serve as a bridge for constructive dialogue between the government and the private sectors, and to build a center of resource and information exchange for all women in Taiwan,” says Chen.
Taiwan also ranks 23rd worldwide and first in Asia in terms of the proportion of female legislators which grew one third from 2009 to 2019 above of gender recommendations. Private sector female directors of public listed companies has also increased but is still less than male directors, she adds.
Gains and good practices in Malaysia
“In 1995, domestic violence was a taboo topic that wasn’t openly discussed by people. But today, there are avenues for such issues to be handled,” she says.
“Gender equality is in the best interest of men and women, and a prerequisite for democracy. When we’re sensitive to gender issues and favour equal participation, parliaments are also able to fulfill the democratic mandate.
“Malaysia’s National Policy of Women, formulated in 1989 and later reviewed in 2009, provides an effective guideline for women in the nation.
“The Plan for Action for the Advancement of Women outlined various projects covering 13 identified areas including economy, poverty, legislation, violence against women, health, education and training, science and technology, media, environment, religion, culture, art and heritage, decision making level and politics, as well as mechanism, machinery and institution for women development,” says Rohani.
The national policy for women and the accompanying plan for the advancement of women, reflects the government’s commitment to ensure participation of women in the country’s planning and development, she says.
“Malaysia recognises women’s equal rights as stipulated in Article 8 (2) of the Federal Constitution which prohibits any kind of discrimination based on gender,” she adds.
At the international level, the government has showed its commitment to promote the development of women by ratifying the convention on the elimination of any form of discrimination (Cedaw) against women which Malaysia is a signatory since 1995, and achieving Goal 5, which is gender equality under the SDG (goals), she adds.
Under the gender sensitive parliament initiative, members of parliament have actively participated in the discussion on women issues during the debate in both houses of parliament.
This has contributed to raising awareness on gender issues, challenges encountered and lessons learnt to the society at large.
“MPs are prohibited from making sexist remarks in the house of representatives in Article 36 (4) of the standing orders of the Dewan Rakyat which states ‘It shall be out of order for Members of the House to use offensive language or make a sexist remark’,” says Rohani.
This shows the parliament does show support for women’s active participation in debates and promotes gender sensitivity in parliament.
It’s a tall order but we are doing our best, she concludes.
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