THIRTY-FIVE state agencies and both city councils in Penang are involved in formulating an action plan for the state’s Gender Inclusiveness Policy (GIP).
Penang Women’s Development Corporation (PWDC) chief executive officer Datuk Ong Bee Leng said: “A policy without an action plan will not yield results, and we are doing this from the bottom up.
“The action plan will provide a framework; 35 state agencies as well as Penang Island City Council (MBPP) and Seberang Perai City Council (MBSP) are involved.
“We are now at the midpoint of the process,” she said after launching a dialogue on GIP at Penang Digital Library which was attended by representatives of several state agencies as well as community leaders.
Six strategies were formulated right after GIP was launched in 2019, she added.
These are capacity building, data collection, gender balanced management, gender responsive and participatory budgeting, consultation and strategic partnerships, as well as monitoring and evaluation.
Ong, however, said that state agencies and local governments were at different levels as the latter had pursued the initiative earlier.
PWDC’s GIP department head Haziqah Nasirah Zol Bahari explained that local governments had already set up gender committees.
“They have their own action plans and we are now monitoring the committees.
“This year, we have conducted a training of trainers session to ensure that they have enough facilitators,” Haziqah said.
Penang social development, welfare and non-Islamic religious affairs committee chairman Lim Siew Khim said GIP was drafted in line with the Penang2030 vision to achieve gender equality, regardless of ethnicity, religion and socio-economic status.
“This policy aims to ensure that any policy, procedure or law enforcement is made comprehensively by emphasising the gender perspective.“It ensures that policies and developments do not exclude certain groups,” she said.
