Heels and hostility

Glass ceiling: While men, who make up most of the political hierarchy in the world, are often the ones receiving the brunt of most political aggression, many women are treading on eggshells upon jumping into political forays.

With her expected nomination as the Democrats' US presidential candidate, Kamala Harris hopes to join other women making unprecedented strides in the global political sphere. The recent shots fired at her rival Donald Trump, however, are a stark reminder that political aggression and violence remain a challenge in politics, especially for women leaders. Sunday Star looks at the situation in Malaysia.

THERE is something oddly disturbing about the recent attempted assassination of United States presidential candidate Donald Trump.

And no, we are not talking about the staying power of his lush, blonde hair as he rushed for cover after a bullet took a piece of his right ear during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

What is disturbing about the attack centres on how unfortunately common political aggression, which culminates into violence, tends to take place especially in a heated electoral race – Trump is not the first political leader to face life-threatening danger; there were many others before him around the world and some had even lost their lives.

The effects of political aggression can be debilitating. While men, who make up most of the political hierarchy in the world are often the ones receiving the brunt of such a storm, women in particular, are treading on eggshells upon jumping into political forays.

According to various studies and reports, women in politics – including in Malaysia – are no strangers to threats of harm that have become a hurdle in advancing their careers.

“Women in politics are frequently subjected to violence, harassment and intimidation, including online abuse and physical threats, which can deter them from participating or speaking out,” says Aisyah Adly, co-leader of Parliwomen during a talk recently.

There have been many instances in which women politicians were targeted by several quarters who allegedly harboured ill intent. And today, there is online violence in the form of threatening and sexist comments, among others.

In 2020, former parliamentarian Nurul Izzah Anwar faced attacks online which had been described by the Joint Action Group for Gender Equality (JAG) as “vile” and “personal”.

“Not only did they contain explicit content sexualising her, they also encouraged and incited further threats and violence against her by purporting to share her personal contact information.”

Nurul Izzah’s brush with threats similarly took place in other countries in the region.

The Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI), in 2022, reported that in South Asia, 90% of women politicians in India, Pakistan and Nepal “felt threats of violence that shook their resolve to join politics”. CIGI said daily sexist comments and hostility also drove women out of politics even in developed countries such as Sweden, Australia and the United Kingdom.

“The rhetorical violence has at times resulted in physical threats and death, such as the cases of a UK parliamentarian, Jess Phillips, who received more than 600 death and rape threats in one night, and the killing of an environmental activist leader, Gloria Capitan, in the Philippines, for her vocal opposition to a coal mine.”

Back in Malaysia, the take on political aggression and violence deterring women from taking the lead in politics is also perhaps derived from the lethargic growth of women in politics, judging from their share of the electoral pie as opposed to the large number of women participation in political parties in general, despite decades since Independence.

In the 15th Parliamentary session, for instance, there are only 30 female representatives or 13.5% of the 222 Dewan Rakyat seats. But to suggest political aggression as a main cause behind the low number of women elected representatives in the country may not be entirely accurate, says Universiti Sains Malaysia’s political analyst Prof Datuk Dr Sivamurugan Pandian.

“Although some studies may have found that political violence and harassment do contribute towards the reason why women shy away from the political arena, it remains a multi-faceted issue.

“Other contributing factors include religion (traditional religious views) and vested interests by some quarters in the society who label women as weak and devoid of leadership qualities; whereas in Indonesia or Bangladesh and some other western countries such as Britain, Finland, Germany and Argentina, we can see how women can lead fairly better than men and becoming role models.”

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Sunway University’s political scientist Prof Dr Wong Chin Huat, in a recent interview with the Sunday Star, says cultural barriers too, from the lack of family support to unemphatic gatekeepers in the party, play a role in hampering women’s participation.

“But the cultural changes are happening fast. Just two decades ago, PAS did not have any woman candidates. Today, PAS even have appointed seats for women in Terengganu, if there are no women among the elected representatives.”

Rather than political aggression and violence, Wong says the real obstacle to women’s advancement in electoral politics is the First-Past-The-Post electoral system, or specifically, its single-member nature, which presents a diminished chance to present a new candidate over an incumbent.

“The most effective way to implement gender quota is to have multimember constituencies, namely a large constituency that elects several representatives (akin to the group representative constituency system in Singapore),” he notes.