KLANG: Newly elected DAP Wanita chief Teo Nie Ching believes women mainstreaming is the way forward for the party.
She said it would be the wing's main focus in a bid to achieve gender equality.
"Once women mainstreaming and sufficient women leadership is reached at all levels in the party, we can abolish the women's wing.
"It signifies our success in achieving gender equality.
"I cannot set a deadline to this effort but this is a new direction we should move towards," she told the New Straits Times.
Teo said this after she was named the wing's new chief in the National Executive Committee (NEC).
She succeeds Chong Eng, who has helmed the position since 2001 and did not seek a re-election.
Chong, however, will now serve as the wing's advisor. Teo's deputy is Yeo Bee Yin.
Teo is Communications and Digital deputy minister and Kulai member of parliament. Yeo is Puchong MP.
Among the committee members are Hannah Yeoh, who is Segambut MP, and Sports and Youth Minister.
The two vice-chiefs are Young Syefura Othman, who is Bentong MP, and Kasturiraani Patto.
Meanwhile, Chong, who joined DAP in 1990 as a researcher, was glad to see the growth in the wing and the party.
She said when she took over, the wing was very weak and they were unable to hold its own elections.
Chong said she was DAP's first woman candidate to contest and win Penang's Batu Kawan constituency seat in 1995.
"The 1999 parliamentary elections, DAP won 10 seats, of which three were women MPs. I was the Bukit Mertajam MP. In 2008, it increased to eight and today, we have more.
"More attention is now given to women, who have been recognised as an important stakeholder. This is good perspective.
"I hope the wing will continuously be stronger with women representatives not just at parliamentary level but at state legislative assemblies, local councils and the Village Community Management Council," she added.