Published: Wednesday October 14, 2009 MYT 3:35:00 PM

Go beyond Wanita leadership, Shahrizat tells members

KUALA LUMPUR: Wanita Umno chief Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil wants members of the movement to think beyond merely becoming Wanita leaders.

In her maiden speech to movement members following her election to the post in March last year, Shahrizat called on Wanita members to rise above the glass ceiling because they too were capable of shouldering bigger responsibilities.

“We should step out and think beyond Wanita leadership, and push for a greater role in line with the contribution of women,” she said at the Wanita Umno General Assembly at the Putra World Trade Centre here Wednesday.

She also told the delegates that Wanita Umno would focus on three areas in its quest for a greater recognition of women’s roles, namely women’s leadership, women and the law, and women’s economic empowerment.

This was crucial, she said, as women’s representation at the decision-making level was still far below the movement’s target of 30%.

Stressing that leadership should reflect the membership strength of a party, Shahrizat said in Umno there were 1.68 million women members including those from Puteri but only six, or 11.8%, of the party’s Supreme Council members were women.

She said that the target of 30% women participation was crucial in breaking the glass ceiling which had been hindering women with potential and qualifications from holding posts at the decision-making level.

“This phenomenon is due to the perception that only men are capable of holding top posts,” she said.

The need to strike a balance between career and family was also among factors hampering women’s chances of success as they were still regarded as the main custodian of a family.

She said that the lack of opportunities for women at the workplace and other factors that influenced how the role of gender was formed had also resulted in women lacking the confidence to hold important posts despite having the necessary qualification.

Shahrizat, who is Women, Family and Community Development Minister, said that in terms of the law, Wanita Umno found that syariah cases, particularly those involving property, were still recording a large number of cases.

This showed that there were still problems in the implementation of syariah law in the country, she said.

She also said that between 2005 and 2008, 41% or 5,350 of 12,839 applications for the annulment of marriage or fasakh were backlogged.

The backlog for divorce cases were 16,308 or 41.3% of 39,474 cases, while for the confirmation of taklik divorces were 54.1% or 7,734 out of 13,557 cases, she said.

“To ensure that women’s rights are fully protected, the authorities, especially the courts, should be more serious in protecting the welfare of women when implementing and enforcing syariah law,” she said.

She also called on the Government to streamline Islamic family law administration for the better management of such cases.

On women’s economic empowerment, Shahrizat said this was important so that they could become independent, especially in the event of a disaster in the family.

She said that women’s participation in the country’s labour market between 1990 and 2008 remained between 44% and 47%, which was lower that those in the developed countries like Britain (69.7%), the United States (69.2%), Japan (60.8%) and South Korea (54.5%).

“If we look at the men-women ratio in the labour market, it stands at 16:9,” she said, adding that the low women’s participation was not because they did not enter the market but because they were more willing to exit the market much earlier.

She said that statistics showed that 55% of women had to quit their job to manage their families and that if this was to go on, it would be a loss not only to women but also to the country.

She also called on employers to consider introducing flexible working hours.

Family members, she said, should also understand that everybody was responsible in managing a family.

Women should also be brave enough to venture into entrepreneurship but in order to be successful, they should first equip themselves with the necessary knowledge and skills, she said.

On the proposed amendments to the Umno constitution, which will be tabled at the party’s special general assembly on Thursday, Shahrizat said if they were approved, it would give at least 22,500 women delegates the responsibility to determine the party’s future.

“Women will also get an extra seat in the Supreme Council. If previously the president can appoint 12 people to the Supreme Council, under the amendment, it will be increased to 13 and this additional seat is for women,” she said. -- Bernama

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