MORE women should step up and venture into politics, says Chong Eng, the state executive councillor for Women & Family Development, Gender Inclusiveness & Non-Islamic Religious Affairs.
“You have the power to make a difference. Seriously, more women have to come forward,” Chong Eng said in her speech at the ‘Networking of Organisations for Women (NOW)’ workshop at Cititel in George Town today.
“Women can break new grounds. But women always undervalue their own power and worth. Actually, they have the power to negotiate, shape policies and influence government decisions.
“We’ve to encourage more women to challenge themselves to take up roles in politics because if they want to see changes in the country, they have first to be a policy-maker.”
She said only 32 out of 222 Members of Parliament in the country are women, which works out to about 14%, and only one out of 11 state executive councillors is a woman.
Chong Eng said the Penang government, however, has adopted a new gender inclusive policy this year with a ratio of 40:40:20, so that there would be 40% women, 40% men and 20% opened to women and men so that no one gender dominates more than 60% in the public sector.
She added that the state government too would like to see at least 30% of local councillors get appointed to serve in the Penang Island City Council (MBPP) and Seberang Perai Municipal Council (MPSP) next round.
On top of that, she said the state would like every Village Community Management Councils (MPKKs) to comprise at least 30% women by 2021 or else the MPKK, without fulfilling that quota, would not be allowed to function.
In the Global Gender Gap 2018, Chong Eng said Malaysia was ranked 84 out of 194 countries with a score of 0.656 in economic participation and opportunity. Which means that in every 10 male, 6.7 female are given the opportunity.
She said under education attainment, women have achieved a balanced ratio of 1:1, which means women have closed the gender gap between male and female in education.
The ‘NOW’ workshop, organised by Chong Eng’s office with the help of the Penang Women’s Development Corporation (PWDC), was attended by 27 representatives from corporate companies, non-governmental organisations and women’s rights groups.
PWDC chief executive officer Ong Bee Leng said the participants would collaborate and come out with community projects that would be impactful.
“We don’t want just talk, but together we can brainstorm to carry out projects that can impact the society,” Ong said.
The participants were from the Penang Women Chamber of Commerce, Junior Chamber International Pearl, Yayasan Kemajuan Sosial, Pertubuhan Pembangunan Wanita Tamarai Pulau Pinang, National Association of Women Entrepreneurs of Malaysia, Women’s Centre for Change, Women’s Right Awareness Association, National Council of Women’s Organisations, Soroptimist International Penang, Persatuan Kebajikan Asas Pulau Pinang, Lean In Penang, Dell (Women In Action), Intel Technology, TalentCorp, Flextronics Technology, B. Braun Medical Industries and Osram Opto Semiconductors.
Story by K.H. Ong
Pix by Adleena Rahayu Ahmad Radzi