20101015121029lecture-7-(sem1!10!11) feminism in malaysia

7/27/2019 20101015121029Lecture-7-(Sem1!10!11) Feminism in Malaysia

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Gender Studies in Malaysia

Lecture Note

Prepared byDr M Sultana Alam

Dept of Malaysian StudiesFaculty of Social Sciences and Humanities

Sultana Idris University of Education


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Outlines Of the Discussion

Historical Background of Feminism in

Malaysia

Factors behind Feminism in Malaysia

The gender based equality in Malaysia


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Background of Feminism in Malaysia

The origins of feminism in Malaysia startedabout twentieth century.

Feminism is seen in Malaysia as a western

concept Like western feminism, the characteristic of

Malaysian feminism was political revolution.

It can be traced to the political struggle

against colonial rule. Malaysian feminism was dynamism, forcing

to changing realities


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Factors behind Feminism inMalaysia

The feminism of Malaysia has been aresult of many factors.

Feminism is forced by many culturaland ideological factors that competefor social acceptance

Another factor is the establishment ofa strong and authoritarian nationalstate which showed democraticexpression.


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Nationalist feminism

In Malaysia, the feminist movementfought against foreign dominationabout womens role in the workplace,their right to formal education andparticipation in political organizations.

Three major races live in Malaysia: the

Malays, the Chinese, and the Indians. Of these, the Malays were the earliest

settlers.


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Ethnic integration

The colonial administrator never had aclear policy of ethnic integration

Women of Malay, Chinese and Indianorigin were all able actively to participate innationalist movements.

The Malay Nationalist Party (MNP) wasone of the first political parties to establish

womens group.


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The Form of UMNO

In 1948, The British Militaryadministration banned the MNP.

Then, British administrators

cultivated and more moderatednationalist but British aliened party,the United Malays NationalOrganization (UMNO).

It is said that UMNO was maledominated.

Women issues were not the mainconcern to judge by UMNO


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National Council for WomensOrganization (NCWO)

After six years of independence, 1963, a non-governmental multiracial womensorganization, National Council for WomensOrganization (NCWO) was formed.

This was encouraged by the issue ofwomensunequal pay which was first highlighted bythe Womens Teachers Union (WTU) formed

in 1960. The movement of the formation of also came

from an overall global trend in 1960s to gainthe rights for working women


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Collaboration of NCWO andWanita (UMNO) International bodies like Young

Womens Christian Associationcontributed significantly towards theformation of the NCWO.

NCWO was also encouraged by theWanita UMNO.

The Wanita UMNO leader Fatima

Hashim saw in the NCWO a formalstructure.

She felt that as a partnership theycould serve as an Umbrella coalition.


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Collaboration of NCWO andWanita (cont)

NCWO and UMNO celebrated NationalWomens Day on 25th August.

The NCWO leaders were elected from

among women of the three majorethnic groups.

It struggled for womens rights and

achieved the equality for equal pay,womens equal access to publicservice jobs and marital rights wereachieved.


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Islamic Feminism in Malaysia

Islamic feminism is Muslim womenschallenges to Islamic Law.

According to Islamic womens

movements, in Malaysia, women canwork, can be a part of civil society, andcan vote on equal terms with men

The Malaysian government has pursuedan authoritarian control of civil societyand the interpretation of Islam


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Islamic Feminism (cont)

Government limits feminist

movements in the country. Despite this, womens movements

were active in Malaysia.


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Islamic Feminism (cont)

These movements, such as the

Malaysian group Sisters in Islam,advocate equal rights for men andwomen and do not accept the

patriarchal interpretation of Islamtaken by the government.


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Political and Social Feminism

Within the islamic context the feminist

movement began to take on politicalcharater.

Some new women organizations wereformed


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Political and Social Feminism(cont)

New organizations are:

Violence against women (VAW)

The Women Aid Organization (WAO)

Womens Crisis Centre (WCC- laterwomens centre for change )

All Womens Action Society (AWAM)

Sabah Action Womens ResourceGroup(SAWO)

Sarawak Womens for Women Society


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These are initiated by middle class

urban women, many of whomcompleted tertiary education in thewest.

At the various times, these organization

came together under the umbrella ofthe joint action group (JAG) andviolence against women (VAW).


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The violence against women (VAW)

campaing is an unfinished agenda ofthe Malysian womenmovement.

This can be seen now a day. Manyorganigations especially (WA0) are

campainig in order to bring justice forwomen.


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VAW Campaign in Malaysia

In the early 1980s, a group of about 20women aged between 20 and 30 came

together in Petaling Jaya , Selangor todiscuss issues related to the status ofwomen in Malaysia.

Womens Aid Organization (WAO)

joined this campaign in 1998.


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VAW Campaign in Malaysia

WAO began this campaign in Malaysiaby working with The Star newspaper toproduce a 16-day series on ViolenceAgainst Women.

The campaign grew with more partnerswhen Amnesty International Malaysia

(AI), Malaysian AIDS Council (MAC) andSisters in Islam (SIS) joined WAO in2004.


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Gender Based Equality inMalaysia

In Malaysia, women and men were notequal before the law. Women continues tosuffer due to sexual discrimination. Eventhough law has been formulated in the

formulation of laws, the lack ofenforcement of law were unable to protectwomen against discrimination.

Since independence, some progress andequality have been achieved in various

areas. In Malaysia, women are activelycontributing towards the development ofthe country.


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Gender Based Equality inMalaysia (cont)

According to Dato Seri Shahrizat

Abdul Jalil

Over the past four decades, we have seensignificant improvement and equality in

Malaysia


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Equality is preserved in the Federal

Constitution of Malaysia,

All persons are equal before the lawand entitled to equal protection of the

law (Article 8 (1).


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The Governments steps tobring equality

Increase womens participation indecision-making.

Safeguard women's rights to health,

education and social well being.

Remove legal obstacles and genderdiscriminatory practices.


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NGOs and Womenorganizations Involvement

Womens groups and NGOs inMalaysia have a vital role to highlightareas where women continue to facediscrimination.

They are doing work to remove thebarriers in order to bring womens

equality in all spheres of womenslives.


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In Malaysia, the educational attainment ofwomen is at a higher level.

The participation in the labor force has

increased and legislation that grants equalopportunities for women and respect fortheir human rights has been adopted inMalaysia.

The result we can be observed that thecountry now has a growing number ofwomen ministers and policy makers.


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The areas of Improvement

Access to education

Employment legislation

Economy Ownership Rights

Legal protection

Family Code


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Access to education

All Malaysian have equal right toeducation under the Constitution ofMalaysia.

This implies that there is nodiscrimination against women andmen in education.

Women in Malaysia have madesignificant progress in education.


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Access to education (cont)

Increased literacy rates andenrolment in schools and tertiaryinstitutions are indicators of their

access to education. Although women have achieved

significant progress in education,gaps still exist between the sexes as

well as between the rural and urbanpopulation.


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Improvement in Employment

The Employment Act 1955 is themajor legislation whichregulates all labour relations and equally to men andwomen, such as:

contracts of service

Wages resthours

hours of work

Holidays

Annual leave

sick leave and

termination and layoffbenefits.


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Improvement in Employment(cont)

There is nostipulation in the Actwhich prohibits employers payinglower wages totheir womenemployees, as compared to maleworkers, for doing the sameamount

of work.


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Participation in Economy

In Malaysia today, women can beseen actively working alongside theirmale counterparts,

We can see them in offices as diverseas that of the nations policy - makersto the municipality and district public

administration.


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Participation in Economy (cont)

The participation of women in thelabor force has been on arising trendsince Malaysia gained independence

in 1957.

Women are engaged in paidemployment in all the economic

sectors or are employers, self-employed and unpaid family workers.


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Ownership Rights

The Constitution gives men and womenequal rights to inherit, acquire, own,manage or dispose of any property,

including land. A married man and woman may have

separate property, but any assets that havebeen acquired during the marriage shall be

considered joint property and, as such,divided equally in the event of divorce.


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Ownership Rights (cont)

In Malysia, women have the legalright to apply for bank loans andenter into any type of contractual

relationships.

Access to credit depends on the levelof income and poverty in Malaysia is

more prevalent among women thanmen.


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Legal Protection

Improvement can be seen with regards tolegal protection especially to the protection

of women against domestic violence . With regard to the protection of women

against domestic violence, the DomesticViolence Act was passed in 1994 and

implemented in 1996.


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Legal Protection (cont)

Domestic violence is now dealt withas a criminal offence with appropriatepenalties imposed.

In Malaysia , though domesticviolence is seen as a criminal offence,

still violence against women isgrowing.


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Family Code

Women in Malaysia have a moderate levelof protection in regard to family matters,

The civil Law Reform Act (LRA) entered into

force in 1982 and set the legal minimumage of marriage to 16 years for women and18 years for men.

Early marriage is relatively infrequent in

Malaysia. The LRA states that all marriages shall

be based upon mutual consent.


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Family Code (cont)

Polygamy is illegal under the LRA, butpolygamous marriages contractedbefore the law came into force are

recognized.

Islamic law allows Muslim men totake as many as four wives, provided

they can support all wives financiallyand agree to treat them fairly.


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Conclusion

Overall we can that, feminismbrought the equality between menand women some areas especially in

education, employment , economy,legal protection and family code.

It is important to note that the major

achievement has been achieved ineducation and employment


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Conclusion (cont)

The different religions and cultures ofMalaysia have many positive/negativeaspects in women's lives.

It is reported that each ethnic groupin Malaysia is influenced by valuesthat determine the role of women in

the domestic/private sphere, whilemen dominate the public sphere.


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Conclusion (cont)

Still, many customary and traditionalpractices continue to distinguishbetween the sexes

In Malaysia, violence against womenstill a major problem in Malaysian

societies.


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20101015121029lecture-7-(sem1!10!11) feminism in malaysia

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