TWOAS: A bold political experiment

Success story: New Zealand’s women lawmakers, featuring Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern in the centre with her baby daughter, re-enact a 1905 photo that featured only male lawmakers for 2018’s International Women’s Day. — AP

AS of January 2021, Malaysia ranked 145th in 192 countries surveyed by Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), in percentage of women parliamentarians. Only 14.9% of parliamentarians, or one in seven, is a woman.

When compared with some of the top achievers, Malaysia trails in every category of national groupings: developing countries (Rwanda: 61.3%, Mexico: 48.2%, South Africa: 45.8%), OIC countries (United Arab Emirates: 50.0%), Commonwealth (New Zealand, 48.3%) and Asean (Singapore, 29.5%).