KUALA
LUMPUR, April 29, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – The
Malaysian experiment on women advancement is a role model that should
be followed by other world countries, said a senior official.
“We
have first of all amended the constitution that there shall be no
discrimination by gender and secondly we have the women's charter that
allows or provides the government with the framework of appointing
women to places where they merit the appointments,” International
Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Rafidah Aziz said in an
interview published on Friday, April 29.
The
advancement of women is an ongoing process in Malaysia reflected in
the number of women holding high posts in both the private and
corporate sectors, she told Bernama news agency.
Aziz
stressed that such a development was the outcome of a long process
that took years to push for gender equality in the
predominantly-Muslim Asian country.
“If
we took 10 years to do something, by learning from us, they (other
countries) might do it in two years,” said the minister.
She
maintained that the Malaysian government has long recognized the need
not to marginalize any sect of society over gender considerations.
“Also,
for Malaysia, we are lucky that we have no shortage of women who are
capable of doing things that are expected of them in any posts”.
In
February, Siti Norma Yaakob, 65, was sworn in as Chief Judge of
Malaya, one of the country's four top judicial posts.
Education
Aziz
said that for countries where women had not yet found their place in
society, education and freedom to develop oneself are crucial.
“Do
not regard them as second class citizens. When you give them
education, you give them the skills, they will become good mothers.
“And
when they understand the value of education, high productivity and
efficiency, they become good motivators for children who will be the
next generation. That's very important.”
The
minister added that another benefit of education was that the family
would get good healthcare and family care.
For
example, in certain countries where HIV/AIDS is a problem, she said,
there must be special programs to educate women so that they could
take preventive steps from being infected by the disease.
Although
women make up just under half the population, they take up almost 61
per cent of the places in universities, according to recent Ministry
of Education statistics.
The
United Nations Children’s Fund (UNCIEF) has hailed in a report
released this week Malaysia’s success in increasing the attendance
ratio, especially for girls in primary education to 95.3 per cent.
Role
Model
Aziz
said that awareness of Malaysia's experiment on the advancement of
women may help streamline the process of women empowerment in
countries of the 113-member Non-Aligned Movement (NAM).
The
Malaysian city of Putrajaya would host a NAM Ministerial Meeting on
the Advancement of Women on May 7-10.
Issues
on HIV/AIDS will be discussed at length in a separate parallel
interactive section under the Women and Health sub-theme.
The
minister said that some of the governments of NAM countries should
provide shelter or avenues for recourse to women who were aggrieved
due to domestic violence.
More
Efforts
However,
some women activists pointed to areas where men could be more
supportive, both of women's careers and their personal lives, Bernama
said in a separate report on Thursday, April 28.
“Our
Members of Parliament need gender-sensitivity training,” said Maria
Chin Abdullah, executive director of the Women's Development
Collective.
She
noted that they were joking in Parliament about the March 11 Federal
Court dismissal of an application by former Malaysia Airlines flight
attendant Beatrice Fernandez.
