LIFE in Malaysia for women today is an intersection of irony melded with incredible comparative privilege. What the hell does that even mean, right? 

Well, on the day to day, it means going from being represented at the highest levels by demonised, diamond obsessed former first lady, Rosmah Mansor, to being pedestalled as newly minted Deputy Prime Minister Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, devoted wife, devout woman, mother and now holder of Malaysia’s second highest political office; a job, mind you, that has never before been held by a woman. 

Then, what of the thinly veiled (pun wholly intended) criticisms of YB Nurul Izzah Anwar by a male caller, who felt it essential to tell the whole nation during a live radio show that the outline of YB’s underwear preoccupied him so deeply he was unable to construct a single question framing policy and practice for the three-term parliamentarian. 

It is incredible, this wave, this new Malaysia. More than half, or 51% of Malaysian women came out in droves, in our hordes, in our resolute conviction that we would change the government of the day with our vote. (What of the tsunami then of everyday sexism, toxic masculinity and entrenched misogyny which firmly remind us how far we have yet to go? And how powerless we actually are without enough representation in government to effect essential legislature?) 

The mountain was indeed conquered but what then, of our seats, our place at the table and along the corridors of power… after the seemingly Herculean crossing of that GE 14 finishing line? 

Jury’s still out on that one. We’re struggling to find even a 20% representation of overqualified and capable women MPs in mock-ups of Tun Dr Mahathir’s full cabinet line up due anytime after Hari Raya. It’s not yet time, they say. Wait a little more, your turn will also come, they say. Patience, they say. 

Ah yes, say. But what about the doing? 

The rolling up of sleeves and the getting down to the nitty gritty of fulfilling the rakyat’s needs? So far, three women have been recognised for their tireless efforts and leadership, Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah, Yang Berhormat Zuraida Kamaruddin, Yang Berhormat Rina Harun, one each for Women & Family Development, Housing and Local Government, and Rural and Regional Development. For all that women are capable of handling must be the home and hearth, be it in the kampung or in the bandar bandar of Malaysia. 

But oh, do women’s work also not lie in the education of children, the health of the family, the sports which our children and youth play, the business which the household purchases and more create for the Domestic, Trade and Consumer Affairs market? Do not our senses and skills sets also create the arts and keep alive the spirit of Malaysia Truly Asia and fill those tourism and heritage coffers? 

Perhaps, I’m indeed mistaken and it is not Malaysian women also mending the works, or caring for, campaigning and holding to task the mismanagement of water, land and natural resources. Oh no, it can’t be Malaysian women who handle religious instruction for the children; indeed, it’s ridiculous to presume that Malaysian women actually make up any percentage at of all among our entrepreneurs and SMEs which contribute 40% and counting to the GDP. There can’t be women lawyers… nor are there overqualified or capable women MPs available within party ranks, elected representatives entrusted with the people’s mandate, if all of Tun Dr Mahathir’s cabinet positions are filled by men. 

Meanwhile, the indisputable number still stands. What number, you may ask? Why, the 21 overqualified and capable pakatan Harapan Women MPs. Hannah Yeoh, Nurul Izzah, Isnaraissah Munirah, Yeo Bee Yin, Teresa Kok, Maria Chin Abdullah, Teo Nie Ching, Fuziah Salleh, and Kasthuri Patto, just to name a few. 

At least five more of these 21 women must be named for the 30 peratus and Iltizam 5 of Pakatan Harapan’s election manifesto to be fulfilled, if there are to be 25 ministries in total. A promise bandied about by not only Pakatan Harapan but also by Umno.

It is a promise which is 20 years old. Twenty years old.

We’ve been waiting. We’ve been working.(It statistically takes an overqualified woman to run for political office, not the opposite, regardless of what Tan Sri Rafidah Rafizi thinks) Oh, we’ve had the patience of saints. 

Now is the time to choose Malaysian women MPs to govern and better the lives of all Malaysians, not just women alone. 

Gender sensitive policies and planning which affect national productivity and GDP while positively impacting social harmony through reducing endemic corruption, reforming civil institutions decayed by decades of patriarchal race and faith skewed politics, battling the wave of violence, sexual crimes and social ills raging against women and children, both privileged and underprivileged…all of these national and community development goals can become actionable realities in one fell swoop through equal representation for Malaysian women in the cabinet.

There’s still time to make that change and make it real. Within our lifetimes. Recalibrating the entire destiny, of our once beleaguered and now so richly brimful of hope, of truly and fundamentally changing: our beloved Malaysia.  

Canada, Finland, Cape Verde, Sweden, Leichenstein, France and most recently Spain have done it, with a minimum 50% of women in cabinet. Rwanda, Bulgaria and Nicaragua have also surpassed the 50% mark of women in ministerial positions, lest we have some naysayers thinking political representation for women is a mere aping of morally objectionable, liberal western standards that are against our wholesome Asian values.  

So. Isn’t it high time Malaysia’s new government gives voice, agency and political power to effect change to the women who actually voted them into power in the first place? 

Remember, the more we resist, the longer the struggle. For all Malaysians, not just women. The more we collaborate, the sweeter and stronger the resolution. 

I end this with a 2012 quote from US Supreme Court  chief justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg: “When I’m sometimes asked when will there be enough (women in the Supreme Court), and I say ‘When there are nine,’ people are shocked. But there’d been nine men, and nobody’s ever raised a question about that’.” – June 23, 2018.

* Tehmina Kaoosji is TV host, emcee and producer.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.