Lonely at the top for women in Penang government

By admin on August 1st, 2010

Being the only female state exco in the Penang government, Youth, Sports, Women, Family and Community Development chairperson Lydia Ong must feel very lonely at the top.

At the ‘Gender Mainstreaming: Justice for All 3Gs’ conference in Penang today, she pleaded for more ‘sisters and friends’ to work together with her in the political arena.

Women continue to cry for 30 percent of women’s participation in all sectors, said Ong, but this would be ineffective if women do not come forward to offer themselves for the position.

“You only say you want your voices to be heard, but if you only keep saying ‘I want, I want’, but do not offer yourself to help, then nothing can help us,” she told the 100-odd participants at the 3G Gender Mainstreaming Conference in Penang today.

“You are all more intelligent, more perfect and more capable than me, so please help me,” she urged.

However, Ong said as the sole woman in the state exco, she was grateful for assistance from women’s groups in helping her to articulate and plan for the betterment of women in the state.

She called on the state government and civil service to work closely with women’s groups and towards gender mainstreaming in their respective areas, and to ensure that at least 30 percent of positions in all levels of decision-making are women.

Attended by about 100 participants, the conference was organized by the Good Governance and Gender Equality Society, Penang (3Gs), a newly registered NGO in 2009.

3Gs evolved out of the Gender Equality Subcommittee of the state government on Women, Family and Community Development which saw the latter in a position to bring about changes on gender and social justice in society by implementing gender mainstreaming policies.
Still a long way to go

Meanwhile, 3G chairperson and Bukit Mertajam parliamentarian Chong Eng conceded that Malaysia is still far from achieving the targeted goal.

While women how have better access to higher education and healthcare, the country is nowhere near the goal of 30 percent participation, such as in Parliament, the executive or even in the top ranks of the civil service.

“It seems an irony that while Malaysia has all the instruments in place, we are unable to achieve the minimal 30 percent women’s participation and, needless to say, gender equality,” said Chong.

“I believe the reasons lies in the lack of political will in the ruling government,” she added.

During her speech, Chong provided statistic to show that Malaysia has still a long way to go before achieving gender equality.
In the Dewan Rakyat, the number of women MPs was hovering slightly above 10 percent for the last three terms, with 10.4 percent (1999), down to 10 percent (2004) and up again 10.8 percent (2008).

In 2004, the percentage of women senators reached as high as 33.3 percent, in 2008, there were 16 women out of a total of 60 senators or 26.7 percent.

In the cabinet, the number of female ministers has never exceeded three at a time since Merdeka. Currently, there are two women ministers out of 30.

The percentage of women elected into the legislative state assemblies has never been more than 10 percent, with 4.8 percent (1999) and doubled to 8.0 percent (2008).

In the civil service, women make up an average of only 14 percent at the upper echelons as secretary-generals, director-generals and chief executives.

Chong Eng (right) said while the electorate must make gender agenda an election demand, they should not allow it to be given a ‘tokenism approach’ or as just one of the ‘check-boxes’ to please pressure groups or the international community.

“However, without ‘aggressive pressure’ from the people and advocacy group, the government will continue to pay lip service, adopting instruments and setting up infrastructure but lacks real commitment to achieve substantial equality,” she added.

MalaysiaKini - Susan Loone – Jul 31, 10
http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/138837

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