Coming to naught: The Women, Family and Community Development Ministry held consultations with government representatives and NGOs on a Gender Equality bill and promised ‘something concrete’ by November 2010 but nothing has happened since. — Filepic

With the general election coming up, women’s groups will be scrutinising political manifestos on issues of equality and justice for Malaysian women.

IT’S that time of the year when we, women’s rights activists in Malaysia, sigh again as we celebrate International Women’s Day on March 8.

Malaysia’s third report to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), due in August 2004, has not been submitted. Neither has its fourth report due in August 2008.

It’s 2013 (and the fifth report due soon) and there is still no news on when the government is going to submit these overdue periodic reports on the status of women in Malaysia and its compliance with its treaty obligations under the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women.

In the meantime, the NGOs have given up on waiting for the government and have prepared their own alternative report to assess the government’s progress under CEDAW. It has been submitted to several ministries and departments dealing with women, law, labour, health, education, and rural development; only one has bothered to acknowledge receipt.

Six years have passed since Malay­sia’s combined first and second report was heard before the CEDAW Committee in 2006. The Committee issued several important recommendations in its Concluding Comments to the government on steps to be taken to fulfil its obligations under the Convention.

Until today, almost all the recommendations just remain words on paper.        

The government has not incorporated the CEDAW Convention into national law. Nor has it defined the term “discrimination” in the Federal Constitution, thus resulting in conflicting interpretations by the courts. While the government lifted its reservation on the prohibition of child marriage, it has not amended national laws that still permit child marriage.

The Federal Constitution is still not amended to allow Malaysian mothers married to foreign men to automatically confer citizenship on their children if born overseas – while Malaysian fathers can. Neither has it been amended to entitle Malaysian women the same right as men in enabling their foreign spouses to apply for Malaysian citizenship. Nor has the government amended the laws to ensure that Muslim women enjoy the same rights and protection in marriage and family as women of other faiths.

Even when negotiations for reform took place, there has been no positive outcome. The Women, Family and Community Development Ministry held consultations with government representatives and NGOs on a Gender Equality bill and promised “something concrete” by November 2010. Nothing has happened since.

Sisters in Islam and the Joint Action Group for Gender Equality (JAG) held several rounds of meetings with the Attorney-General and the Syariah Community to reach agreement on necessary amendments to the discriminatory Islamic Family Law. And yet, since 2006, those agreed upon amendments have not been tabled in Parliament.

Efforts at introducing a Sexual Harassment Act, establishing a fully functioning joint family court system for both civil and syariah laws, a Child Support Agency to ensure all children are maintained upon the breakdown of a marriage have all not moved far.

Over the past decade, JAG has submitted 22 memoranda to the government that highlighted urgent areas for reform to end discrimination against women or to introduce new legislation to protect and uphold the rights of women. Most of these have received scant attention from the government. In some, meeting after meeting with various government agencies have come to naught.

There is little political will to treat women as human beings of equal worth and dignity in this country. There’s been plenty of rhetoric, but little action. Even when there has been action, such as rounds of consultations, the government shows little will to push through the final outcome documents because of squeaks of objections from some patriarchs resistant to change and fearful and threatened by the realities of the 21st century. Thus the gross disconnect between law and reality continues, to the detriment of national, community and family well-being and productivity.

Every so often, at the right occasion, our political leaders do promise to take action to end discrimination against women. The latest came from the Prime Minister last month who promised that “the government would hasten effort to make changes to legislation, regulations, practices and thinking that obstructed the progress of women”.

All the homework needed for the government to translate this promise into reality has been done. There are memorandum upon memorandum submitted by women’s groups, draft laws prepared, supporting research and documentary evidence to justify why reform is necessary. The precious missing link is political will.

With the 13th general election coming up, the women’s groups will be scrutinising the party manifestos and their priorities on issues of equality and justice for Malaysian women.

Are the parties committed to ensuring that all state and federal laws prohibit gender-based discrimination, in line with Article 8(2) of the Federal Constitution; and that all national legislation is consistent with the CEDAW Convention?

Will they find the political will to table the long-awaited amendments to the Islamic Family Law (Federal Territories) (Amendment) Act that were agreed upon in rounds of negotiation with the Attorney-General in 2006?

Will they amend the Federal Constitution to define “discrimination” and ensure that Malaysian men and women enjoy equal rights?

Will they undertake systematic gender sensitisation training for the whole bureaucracy and the judiciary so that judges can learn that sacking a woman or withdrawing an offer of employment on the basis of her pregnancy is gender discrimination, or that setting different retirement ages for men and women is gender discrimination?

Will they adopt a plan of action to effectively implement the national policy of appointing 30% women to decision-making positions in the private and public sectors by 2015?

Will the political parties immediately lead by example by ensuring that 30% of their candidates standing for parliamentary and state seats in this coming elections are women?

Should I even bother to hold my breath? Someone, surprise me please!

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