FOR the All Women’s Action Society (Awam), the celebration of International Women’s Day (IWD) yesterday in Malaysia was a bittersweet one.
Beyond the obvious reasons of celebrating women for their many achievements and creating awareness about the plight of women who still have to fight for most basic of rights, IWD 2020 also marked a period when there was a spike in Covid-19 cases and also a period in which the country gained a new Prime Minister without the mandate of the people and, significantly for all women (and men) in this country, the final act of legislating the Sexual Harassment Act will clearly not materialise this month due to the delay in the next sitting of Parliament, which has been pushed to May.
Hours and hours were spent by a number of stakeholders – not limited to the women’s groups – scrutinising sexual harassment laws from other countries to pick out the best regulations that would fit the Malaysian context; meeting after meeting was held in Putrajaya to draft out a workable Bill, and then in turn, to review each line of the draft Bill to ensure that loopholes were closed and that the laws of sexual harassment would work within our country’s legal, social and culture systems.
Awam and the other women’s groups strove to ensure that as many people as possible were aware of the potential Sexual Harassment Bill. It must be noted that we received very positive responses to the Bill, from both men and women alike. Merely by its creation and enactment, the Bill would have placed Malaysia among the likes of Australia, Britain, Japan and the United States, countries that have stand- alone sexual harassment laws.
For this IWD, Awam would like to appeal to the powers that be to be aware of how much social policies such as the Sexual Harassment Bill can contribute to the positive development of the country. It would have paved the foundation for a physically safer and mentally healthier rakyat. Mental stress and depression are direct effects of sexual harassment.
Furthermore, social policies promote social trust. When members of society feel safe with each other, they are further encouraged to work together, and this leads to better democratic institutions, more growth in the economy and less crime and corruption. This form of social capital is the security that Malaysia needs in our current troubled and uncertain times.
It is acknowledged that sexual harassment is a huge social ill in Malaysia. From 2017 to 2019, 55 people, three of whom were men, came to Awam for our free counselling and legal information services because they had been sexually harassed, mainly by their superiors at work.
The Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM) has reported that sexual harassment happens in our public schools, where the youngest victim was seven years old. In fact, from January to September 2019, 186 cases of sexual harassment involved schoolgoing kids from seven to 18 years old. A survey of 1,002 Malaysians carried out by YouGov Omnibus revealed that one in four Malaysians have been sexually harassed at some point in their lives – of which 26.6% were harassed in a public place. PDRM also noted that between 2013 and 2017, 21% of reported cases of sexual harassment involved men.
Social policies like the Sexual Harassment Bill offer people the option to be treated fairly and equally. Ensuring that the Sexual Harassment Bill is passed this year will also work hand in hand with the United Nation’s IWD’s theme, “I Am Generation Equality: Realising Women’s Rights”.
IWD is not a cause for celebration and reflection only by women but all people for two reasons: Gender norms are no longer fixed and we are all intertwined in each other’s lives; and supporting women literally means supporting society as a whole.
Despite all that has happened in recent weeks, Awam’s 35 years of experience in advocating women’s rights has taught us to find the silver lining in our no-government cloud. Sometimes, you have to work with what you have. Regardless of what happens in May, the powers that be should use this excellent opportunity to look into adding more female MPs into the line-up, if not immediately then at least in the long term.
As of 2019, there were 33 women in Parliament (14.9%), five female ministers (17.8%), four female deputy ministers (14.8%) and nine women in Cabinet (16.4%). The last government could not meet the 30% quota for women in Parliament. This IWD, Awam would like to see robust plans to reach that quota for women in Parliament.
But beyond the new government, Awam would like political parties to take up this opportunity to show that they are part of Generation Equality and are not a self-serving group of people who are immersed in archaic values of the past, that they are able to keep up with the present times.
Political parties should systematically implement internal strategies and/or processes that will ultimately get more women into Parliament. Awam believes that everyone – especially women – should have access to full participation in civic and political engagement to ensure that we have a robust and healthy political system. This is ever more crucial in the wake of recent political events.
This is our call to ALL political parties to actively choose to challenge gender and other stereotypes, fight gender bias and discrimination, broaden perceptions, improve women’s access in all situations and celebrate women’s achievements.
Let’s learn from what we have achieved and examine how far we have left to go. Let’s change for the better for Malaysia.
ALL WOMEN’S ACTION SOCIETY (AWAM)
Beyond the obvious reasons of celebrating women for their many achievements and creating awareness about the plight of women who still have to fight for most basic of rights, IWD 2020 also marked a period when there was a spike in Covid-19 cases and also a period in which the country gained a new Prime Minister without the mandate of the people and, significantly for all women (and men) in this country, the final act of legislating the Sexual Harassment Act will clearly not materialise this month due to the delay in the next sitting of Parliament, which has been pushed to May.
Hours and hours were spent by a number of stakeholders – not limited to the women’s groups – scrutinising sexual harassment laws from other countries to pick out the best regulations that would fit the Malaysian context; meeting after meeting was held in Putrajaya to draft out a workable Bill, and then in turn, to review each line of the draft Bill to ensure that loopholes were closed and that the laws of sexual harassment would work within our country’s legal, social and culture systems.
Awam and the other women’s groups strove to ensure that as many people as possible were aware of the potential Sexual Harassment Bill. It must be noted that we received very positive responses to the Bill, from both men and women alike. Merely by its creation and enactment, the Bill would have placed Malaysia among the likes of Australia, Britain, Japan and the United States, countries that have stand- alone sexual harassment laws.
For this IWD, Awam would like to appeal to the powers that be to be aware of how much social policies such as the Sexual Harassment Bill can contribute to the positive development of the country. It would have paved the foundation for a physically safer and mentally healthier rakyat. Mental stress and depression are direct effects of sexual harassment.
Furthermore, social policies promote social trust. When members of society feel safe with each other, they are further encouraged to work together, and this leads to better democratic institutions, more growth in the economy and less crime and corruption. This form of social capital is the security that Malaysia needs in our current troubled and uncertain times.
It is acknowledged that sexual harassment is a huge social ill in Malaysia. From 2017 to 2019, 55 people, three of whom were men, came to Awam for our free counselling and legal information services because they had been sexually harassed, mainly by their superiors at work.
The Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM) has reported that sexual harassment happens in our public schools, where the youngest victim was seven years old. In fact, from January to September 2019, 186 cases of sexual harassment involved schoolgoing kids from seven to 18 years old. A survey of 1,002 Malaysians carried out by YouGov Omnibus revealed that one in four Malaysians have been sexually harassed at some point in their lives – of which 26.6% were harassed in a public place. PDRM also noted that between 2013 and 2017, 21% of reported cases of sexual harassment involved men.
Social policies like the Sexual Harassment Bill offer people the option to be treated fairly and equally. Ensuring that the Sexual Harassment Bill is passed this year will also work hand in hand with the United Nation’s IWD’s theme, “I Am Generation Equality: Realising Women’s Rights”.
IWD is not a cause for celebration and reflection only by women but all people for two reasons: Gender norms are no longer fixed and we are all intertwined in each other’s lives; and supporting women literally means supporting society as a whole.
Despite all that has happened in recent weeks, Awam’s 35 years of experience in advocating women’s rights has taught us to find the silver lining in our no-government cloud. Sometimes, you have to work with what you have. Regardless of what happens in May, the powers that be should use this excellent opportunity to look into adding more female MPs into the line-up, if not immediately then at least in the long term.
As of 2019, there were 33 women in Parliament (14.9%), five female ministers (17.8%), four female deputy ministers (14.8%) and nine women in Cabinet (16.4%). The last government could not meet the 30% quota for women in Parliament. This IWD, Awam would like to see robust plans to reach that quota for women in Parliament.
But beyond the new government, Awam would like political parties to take up this opportunity to show that they are part of Generation Equality and are not a self-serving group of people who are immersed in archaic values of the past, that they are able to keep up with the present times.
Political parties should systematically implement internal strategies and/or processes that will ultimately get more women into Parliament. Awam believes that everyone – especially women – should have access to full participation in civic and political engagement to ensure that we have a robust and healthy political system. This is ever more crucial in the wake of recent political events.
This is our call to ALL political parties to actively choose to challenge gender and other stereotypes, fight gender bias and discrimination, broaden perceptions, improve women’s access in all situations and celebrate women’s achievements.
Let’s learn from what we have achieved and examine how far we have left to go. Let’s change for the better for Malaysia.
ALL WOMEN’S ACTION SOCIETY (AWAM)
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