LETTERS: Women make up almost 49.6 per cent of the world's population.
Unfortunately, political representation numbers do not reflect the global percentage of women. Based on the statistics provided by the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), only 27 countries have reached or surpassed 40 per cent of women's representation in their national Parliaments.
On Oct 5 this year, the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry organised a forum on women's leadership in politics.
Throughout the forum, the panellists, most of whom are senior leaders in political parties, agreed that 30 per cent of women should be deployed as candidates in the 15th General Election (GE15).
However, actions speak louder than words. Sadly, on nomination day, the overall percentage of female candidates was only 15 per cent of 945 candidates.
The gender gap is still prevalent in our country. Based on the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Index 2022, Malaysia was ranked 103rd out of 146 countries. In comparison, other Asean countries ranked substantially better — Singapore (49th), Thailand (79th), Indonesia (92nd) and the Philippines (19th). To make it even worse, a less developed country like Timor Leste was ranked 56th, way ahead of ours.
Upon examining the numbers, I asked myself, what is the underlying factor that hinders women's participation in Malaysian politics?
It was the stigmatisation of women's roles that was largely constructed by the patriarchal paradigm in society.
Efforts to empower women in politics have remained minimal since the implementation of the National Women Policy in 1989. The patriarchal paradigm has always emphasised the role of women as mere assistants to men.
The role of women in society has been diminished by what I categorise as a selective narrative. We must recognise that the mentality that seeks to degenerate women's roles in society is alien to our culture.
If we were to analyse the historical narrative, we might unearth the fact that women's leadership is not a strange idea in the history of the Malay Archipelago. Historically, between 1584 and 1649, the historical kingdom of Patani was ruled by four female rulers. This was the time when Patani had a turbulent relationship with the overlordship of the kingdom of Siam.
The story of Patani (Hikayat Patani) narrates how the alliance between Patani and Johor, fostered by the queen, successfully thwarted the Siam's military expedition, assisted by the Dutch.
In modern-day Malaysia, women have a fair share in developing the country.
Since the introduction of electoral politics in Malaysia (Malaya before 1963), women have participated actively, either as party functionaries or activists. We have a track record of women's leadership, like in Kaum Ibu Umno, led by Puteh Mariah and Ibu Zain, and Khatijah Sidek in Pas.
We had Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail as the first female deputy prime minister.
With all the facts, what is stopping us from fielding more female candidates in the general election?
I believe this patriarchal paradigm can only be broken through comprehensive political-civic education and empowerment, beginning at the school level.
Only by implementing such a change will we be able to achieve 30 per cent female political participation.
RIZAL HAMDAN
Doctoral candidate, Institute of Ethnic Studies, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the New Straits Times