Why 30% is a big deal

WHEN the 14th Parliament of Malaysia convenes its first meeting of the first session on June 25, around 16% of the Dewan Rakyat MPs will be women.

Women accounted for around 11% of all candidates in the recent general election. Based on the Election Commission’s electoral roll, women also make up 50.58% of our 14,968,229 registered voters. Eleven states and two federal territories actually have more female voters than male voters, namely Perlis, Kedah, Kelantan, Terengganu, Penang, Perak, Selangor, Negri Sembilan, Melaka, Johor and Sarawak, and the two federal territories of Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya. Selangor has the most number of female voters at 1.22 million.