MORE government policy and education measures are needed to encourage greater political participation among women, said women’s groups and gender equality experts.

While the government’s announcement of setting up a childcare centre in Parliament was lauded, they also say other barriers to women embarking on a political career need to be addressed.

The childcare centre, which is expected to start operations this year, has been hailed by Deputy Women, Family and Community Development Minister Hannah Yeoh as an important step to increase female participation in politics and the workforce.

However, gender equality experts say the move should mark only the beginning in efforts to scale up women’s involvement in politics.

Prof Julia Richardson of Curtin University, Western Australia’s School of Management told The Malaysian Insight that setting up a creche or nursery can only be the start of a long poccess in driving women’s involvement in politics.

She said more attention needs to be given to the bigger picture, especially ensuring in a level playing field in what is still seen as a male-dominated career.

“There are many reasons why women may not enter politics, e.g. if it is a male-dominated environment, we have to question the extent to which they will be supported, accepted as a bone-fide member of the decision-making groups,” said Richardson.

She said the main deterrent for women to enter politics was the notion of a “glass ceiling” that would impede their careers.

“The key question is whether politics, as a career path, is supportive of women’s entry and future career development.

“If it is seen as having a ‘glass ceiling’ with little hope of promotion beyond lower ranks, then of course fewer women are likely to enter politics and particularly if they can access better career development in other sectors.”

Richardson said society must be educated to accept that women can play an equal role to men in policymaking.

“If ‘society’ sees it as a man’s job then women are less likely to enter. So, in this respect we have to think about the bigger picture,” she told The Malaysian Insight via an email interview.

In the long-run, the government must implement gender equality policies and programmes at all government agencies, and to emphasise it in schools, said Associate Professor Jane Terpstra Tong, Deputy Head of Education, School of Business, Chairperson of Gender Equity Taskforce at Monash University Malaysia.

“This includes ensuring that there are equal numbers of girls and boys serving leadership roles, ensuring textbooks carry pictures of both male and female leaders, and not attributing occupations to a certain gender,” said Tong.

She also recommended that successful female politicians or leaders be highlighted regularly so that they can be role models for the young.

Start at the party level

Out of Malaysia’s 222 MPs, only 34 are women, and only 13 out of 67 senators in the Dewan Negara are female.

The dismal numbers show that more must be done, apart from helping mothers balance the demands of work and family life, said Women’s Aid Organisation’s Advocacy and Communications Officer Tan Heang Lee.

Tan said political parties should field more women as candidates.

“As a case in point, in the 14^th general election, women constituted only 13% of Pakatan Harapan’s candidates for Parliamentary and state assembly seats.

“BN also fielded the same proportion of women candidates. Hence, to increase women’s political participation, political parties also need to give more opportunities for women to run for office,” she said.

Dr Alicia Izharuddin, a senior lecturer in gender studies at Universiti Malaya’s Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, said the real game changer would be beyond a childcare facility, and should occur on a party level.

Political parties, she said, must have a short-term, women-only shortlist of candidates ahead of elections and have a gender quota for winnable seats.

“Party nominations must be transparent and fair; sexist language in Parliament must be banned and offenders must be penalised, and junior women politicians can definitely benefit from mentoring programmes within and outside the party so that they can develop their base,” Alicia said.

Richardson of Curtin University said Putrajaya’s emphasis for now should be to ensure that ministries, government departments and even private corporations should have an in-house daycare facility, as it would benefit parents, both men and women.

“We also have to think about the message that this signals to the broader marketplace – i.e. how it indicates that an employer is willing to provide such services for its employees. This can generate a more positive organisational brand image/culture.

“Many corporations may have corporate-funded daycare centres or if they require employees to pay it isn’t necessarily negative – at least the nursery is on-site. 

“This is important, as it means that all parents can focus on their work rather than worrying about childcare.”

Yeoh, who is also Segambut MP, had said about 500 government offices across the country have yet to set up childcare centres, due to lack of funds and space, as many of them are on rented premises.

She said the government was conducting an audit to overcome these problems. – February 26, 2019.