Malaysia needs more women politicians

ACCORDING to the Election Commission, for Malaysia’s 15th General Election (GE15) on Nov 19, there are actually slightly more women voters than male voters: there are 10,622,161 female voters and 10,551,487 male voters.

Even during GE14 in 2018, women made up 50.44% of the total number of registered voters.

However, only 14.86% of elected representatives then were women.

Malaysia is still among the countries with the lowest proportion of female parliamentarians.

There are calls for that 14.86% female representation in Parliament to be increased to at least 30%, the target set by the United Nations.

Ensuring half our population is adequately represented isn’t the only reason to have more women involved in politics.

According to the British public body Westminster Foundation for Democracy, “Research shows that women policymakers prioritise issues such as healthcare and the environment; increased representation of women in elected office is associated with counteracting corruption; and states where women hold more political power are less likely to go to war and less likely to commit human rights abuses.”

Some people argue that the 30% representation could be accomplished if each political party has 30% female candidates.

If the parties do this collectively, it is possible to create a pool of female candidates with a better probability of being elected.

This could also result in a higher chance of women being appointed as Cabinet members.

Several Malaysian political parties have promised to increase the number of women candidates they field in GE15. Unfortunately, judging by the candidates announced so far by some parties, the numbers don’t look promising.

But let’s see the complete list of candidates from all parties on nomination day on Nov 5 and whether we have a chance to increase women’s participation in politics in this country.

While we struggle with achieving even gender parity among our representatives, we can’t even hope for a woman leader yet.

But judging by how some countries responded to the Covid-19 pandemic, that is something we should dream of for the future at least.

As a thoughtful essay pointed out, global statistics showed that countries with the most effective response to the pandemic had one thing in common: they were led by women.

These countries include Taiwan led by Tsai Ing-wen and New Zealand headed by Jacinda Arden, with both women leaders very quick to take control measures; Denmark led by Mette Frederiksen who put her country into lockdown early; Iceland’s Katrín Jakobsdóttir who offered early free testing for all; and former German chancellor (and scientist) Angela Merkel who was noted for “communicating with calm and scientific rigour”.

All the more reason why we need more women in both the Dewan Rakyat and the Cabinet.