THEY say flowers can make a woman’s day a lot brighter. This is true when the women who were in the vicinity of Chowrasta Bazaar were all smiles as they received beautiful carnations from Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow today.
Chow, together with Komtar assemblyman Teh Lai Heng and Pengkalan Kota assemblyman Daniel Gooi, were at the market area to distribute flowers to the women traders, hawkers and the market-goers as the International Women’s Day (IWD) is celebrated globally on March 8.
“This is a symbolic gesture of honouring women for their role in the development of the community as well as the country.
“The state government has always been consistent in its pursuit of championing women’s rights and gender equality,” said Chow, who cited state Women and Family Development, Gender Inclusiveness and Non-Islamic Religious Affairs Committee chairman Chong Eng as an exemplary leader in being proactive to empower women.
The Chief Minister lauded Chong Eng for her dedication pertaining to women’s issues and gender equality which has brought forth gender inclusiveness policies in the state.
“The result of her tireless quest can be seen through the state government’s policies and programmes.
“Yesterday we held a ceremony to signify the acceptance of the gender inclusiveness policy as the state government’s policy.
“It will be used in the planning and decision-making process,” added Chow.
Chow said the ‘fight’ to give recognition to the roles played by women would continue.
“Some say that since women are now in a much better position and have achieved some degree of gender equality, things such as this (distribution of flowers) are not needed.
“However, I feel that we will keep our tradition of distributing flowers to women which will act as a ‘strong’ voice in creating awareness on women empowerment.
“The quest to advocate women’s rights should be instilled among layers of society so that remembering IWD will take place naturally, even without having the need of organising special events,” said Chow.
Story by Tanushalini Moroter
Pix by Noor Siti Nabilah Noorazis
Live by Alvie Cheng