PETALING JAYA: Political parties should be able to field capable women candidates for at least 30% of seats and give them a fair chance of winning elections, rather than relying on reserved seats to boost women’s representation, says the Projek30% campaign team.
The team said reserved seats would not address the structural barriers that keep women underrepresented in politics, including male-dominated leadership, gender stereotypes and unequal access to political resources.
“Some have started, but many have not,” it said, referring to efforts by political parties to groom women leaders.
The campaign stressed that 30% representation should be the minimum target, with the ultimate goal being gender parity at 50%.
A joint initiative by Empower Malaysia, the Association of Women Lawyers and the Penang Women’s Development Corporation, Projek30% said women appointed to reserved seats by political parties, rather than elected by voters, could lack autonomy and meaningful decision-making powers.
Such a system could allow parties to meet representation targets through patronage without changing how they recruit candidates, select leaders or allocate resources, it added.
“Women are not asking for favours. Women are asking for a fair chance to compete,” said the team.
Projek30% has proposed a Gender Parity in Political Representation Act, also known as Akta Projek30%, to encourage political parties to field women candidates for at least 30% of seats in parliamentary and state elections.
Under the proposal, a Gender Parity Commission would operate alongside the Election Commission.
Parties that meet the candidate threshold would qualify for pre-election financial incentives to cover campaign expenses, including care costs for candidates with young children or elderly parents.
Additional incentives would be available to parties that achieve at least 30% women representation among their elected MPs and state assemblymen.
Women candidates who win their seats would still qualify for incentives even if their parties fail to meet the post-election target.
Parties would also be required to disclose how the incentives are used, the proportion of women in their leadership structures and the programmes they have developed to groom women leaders.
The team said the proposed legislation was submitted to the government in June.
In June, the Parliamentary Special Select Committee on Women, Children and Community Development proposed legislation requiring political parties to field at least 30% women candidates in general and state elections.
The debate comes ahead of the Melaka state election, with nomination day set for Oct 31 and polling on Nov 14.
Meanwhile, Women Leadership Foundation chairperson Datuk Dr Hafsah Hashim (pic) said women-only seats could help address underrepresentation, provided they were not treated as a permanent solution or a substitute for broader political reforms.
She said women occupied about 14% of seats in the Dewan Rakyat.
“A quota should be a floor, not a ceiling. Thirty percent is where we should begin, not where our ambition should end,” she said.
Hafsah also called for better access to campaign financing, greater representation of women in party leadership, mentoring and leadership development, and a safer political environment free from gender-based harassment and stereotyping.
A September 2025 report found that women accounted for 13.5% of MPs and 12% of state assembly members, with no state assembly having reached the 30% target at the time.
