IT is Malaysia’s loss if women are not employed to their fullest potential as they are as smart and efficient as men and make up half the population, said former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

He said the intellectual capabilities of women are a “national asset” that must be utilised.

“If we fail to utilise the women, we will lose half of the country’s population. They are half of the total population.

“They have strength in terms of qualifications and so on.

“If we let them go, we lose a lot of potential. We must make use of the potential of women,” Dr Mahathir told The Malaysian Insight.

Women make up 49% of the Malaysian population of 32.7 million, according to new data from the Statistics Department.

Dr Mahathir said it is a fact that must be acknowledged, that women are capable of doing work done by men.

“We have to accept that men and women are different but we have to acknowledge their ability to do work – save for physical labour – that is done by men,” he said.

Dr Mahathir said that women were not equal to but different from men.

“There is no doubt that women have the same abilities as men. Of course, there are some things that men can do that women cannot, but women excel at thinking and planning.

“We do not have to be exactly equal.”

Dr Mahathir said the fact that female students outnumber male students in tertiary education was proof of their intellectual capabilities, which should be considered a national asset.

“If we were to go to the universities, we’ll find that 60-70% of the students are women.

“I don’t know what men do, maybe they are not smart because they did not go to university.”

During his first tenure as prime minister in 1981, Dr Mahathir made room for women in his party and cabinet. Rafidah Aziz served as the international trade and industry minister for 16 years while heading the women’s wing in Umno.

When Dr Mahathir returned to office as leader of the Pakatan Harapan government in 2018, he chose Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail to be his deputy, making the then PKR president the first woman to hold the post.

Women were also appointed to high positions in the judiciary. Rohana Yusof was president of the Court of Appeal in 2019, eight months after Tengku Maimon Tuan Mat was made chief justice.

Three women judges from the Court of Appeal – Zaleha Yusof, Zabariah Mohd Yusof and Hasnah Mohammed Hashim – were promoted to the Federal Court, to make it six women to four men judges in the apex court.

Dr Mahathir has said that it is not impossible for a woman to become the prime minister if she has the support of the people. – November 15, 2020.