Equity means addressing the different needs of women for them to be able to access equality. Photo: StarGraphics
Malaysian girls outperform boys in school and more than half of undergraduates in Malaysian universities and colleges are women – in 2021, this figure went up to 61%. Why then are there so few women in the workforce?
Women’s labour force participation rate (LFPR) in 2021 was a dismal 55.6% (compared to 82% for men) – one of the lowest in the region. There are many reasons that keep women from fully achieving equality in the workplace: From discrimination in hiring processes, lack of affordable childcare services (which force them to leave formal employment to care for their family), sexual harassment, wage inequality, discrimination – the list is actually endless.
These are inequities that women experience that makes it hard for them to stay in the workforce.
For women to truly experience workplace equality, these barriers (inequities) need to be addressed: provisions for childcare (so that women don’t have to choose between a career and family); protection against harassment so women feel safe at work, anti-discriminatory laws so women get equal pay and aren’t sidelined on the basis of their gender as well as harmful gender-norms that give rise to sexism.
In order to achieve real access to equality, we must first focus on equity, says Abinaya.While addressing inequality is the key to improving the lives of women, in order for everything to be fair and just for all women, we need to prioritise equity – an ongoing process of making sure barriers to equality (not just in workplaces but in homes, community, schools, etc) are removed, constantly.
#EmbraceEquity is the campaign slogan for International Women’s Day this year and it highlights why equity is important in order for equality to be achieved.
“This year’s IWD (pledge) #EmbraceEquity is a very welcome (slogan) and is an important one to explore and highlight. It allows us to look and learn beyond equality alone.
“It may be a big, broad concept but at the crux, it means that we should be looking at and targeting (remedies) according to needs of the population, the needs of women, children and families.
"This is important because in order to achieve real access to equality, we must first focus on equity. We must consider the specific barriers that may exist for various segments of society, marginalized and vulnerable communities,” says Women’s Aid Organisation advocacy director, Abinaya Divya Mohan.
But what exactly is equity and why is it so important?
What is equity
The words “equality” and “equity” are often used interchangeably when talking about gender parity. However they don’t mean the same thing, even though they are interrelated, explains Karen Lai, programme director at the Women’s Centre for Change (WCC), Penang.
“Equity essentially means being fair – to women and men. Recognising that women and men have different needs, including the fact that women often do not start on an equal playing field due to discrimination in the past, different measures are used to meet such different needs.
“For example, only women are able to breastfeed, so special (equitable) measures need to be put into place to address these needs. Another example of equity in the work that we do at WCC is ensuring that knowledge and information on victims’ rights in situations of domestic and sexual violence reach as many women and girls as possible, because we know that such violence disproportionately affects them, compared to men and boys,” she says.
However, although addressing equity is important, Lai emphasises that the end goal of achieving equality for women must not be lost.
“As a women human rights defender, equality is the standard to which I believe we should strive. Hence, to me, to #EmbraceEquity means to welcome practical steps towards achieving the ultimate goal of equality,” she explains.
“Equality is the term that is used in the language of international human rights, including the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (Cedaw), to which Malaysia acceded in 1995. Under Cedaw, equality is upheld in recognition of the equal rights and status of women and men as human beings.
“Equality is often misunderstood as sameness. However, substantive equality, as envisioned in Cedaw, does not mean treating women and men in the exact same way. Rather, it is measured in terms of entitlement to opportunities, access to opportunities, and results, in order to overcome multiple forms of discrimination against women. Achieving equality often requires the strategic use of equitable measures.
Equality is often misunderstood as sameness. However, substantive equality, as envisioned in Cedaw, does not mean treating women and men in the exact same way, says Lai.“In other words, equity leads to equality. Equity is a means to an end, and not an end in itself,” she stresses.
Breaking down the difference further, Abinaya lays out examples of how equity and equality play out in the lived realities of women.
“The difference between equality and equity can be seen every day. For example, there may be financial support structures set up for mothers and families to help with labour participation or social protection. However, if these support structures are generalised and not targeted to various groups such as Ibu Tunggal (single mothers) and Ibu Tinggal (women left with no support but are still legally married), then access to these support systems will be lacking.
“Often, survivors who become single mothers due to leaving an abusive relationship are unable to access financial aid because they do not operate within the support structures (LHDN, BR1M) or due to not being able to show legal evidence of being a single mother,” she explains.
“It is a similar situation for access to upskilling training for women. Many of the existing programmes do not take into consideration specific needs for childcare support, digital access, registration costs and travel locations. This has a particular impact on survivors of violence who are leaving abusive situations with little to no financial support, access to travel nor childcare.
“This is why WAO has created programmes such as our Power Up initiative that focuses on upskilling and providing training – to equip survivors to build their own business – whil giving them access to our childcare centre. These initiatives focus on empowering women who leave abusive situations to rebuild their lives – they remove barriers to access to job opportunities, upskilling courses and childcare.
“This is one way in which we hope to support Malaysia achieving equal access and embrace equity. WAO consistently focuses on embracing equity be it through our efforts to make the budget gender-responsive (targeted needs for women, men, boys and girls) to our Level Up programme that enables corporates to promote gender equality in the workplace.
“Our call for gender equality is strengthened through structural programmes to address and equip all sectors of society – survivors, communities, corporates and the government. It must be a whole of society approach.
“We cannot achieve equality without equity,” she says.
How is Malaysia doing?
Malaysia has made some positive steps towards addressing the gender discrimination that women face, acknowledges Lai. However, there is much more to be done.
“Compared to 2022, Malaysia has taken positive steps forward to protect the rights of women and girls, whom we know bear the brunt of gender-based violence. Examples include the passing of the Anti-Sexual Harassment Act last year, the recent government commitment to ensure that Malaysian mothers will have the equal right to confer citizenship on their overseas born children, and the setting up of a special child protection department within the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development.
“However, we are still a long way towards achieving de facto equality, including in the representation of women in Parliament as well as the lack of domestic legislation to ensure the protection of equality and non-discrimination. Again, equitable measures such as understanding specific types of support different groups of women need are part of the solution.
“Hence, I would recommend an IWD2023 pledge to ‘Embrace Equity to Uphold Equality’.
Abinaya is in agreement, adding that while the country has made progress in some ways, it has also taken “steps backwards” in other areas.
“Taking stock where we are is always a very difficult task. In some ways we have made progress but in so many ways we have taken steps backwards in our journey to an equal, inclusive society.
“How we fare on equality and equity relies on so many factors, some of these are policies, laws and culture. Until we address the perpetuation of gender inequality and patriarchal values in our society, we will forever be in limbo towards attaining equality. Simply put, this is because policies and laws are implemented by people and society – if we do not believe in equality as a society or do not understand the importance of equity, laws meant to aid in achieving this will become limited,” she explains.
A good example, she says, would be the push for maternity leave.
“In 2021, the Employment Act 1955 was amended to include 98 days of maternity leave and seven days of paternity leave. However, backlash to this from employers illuminate two things: Firstly that there is limited recognition of the health and wellbeing of women, particularly new mothers, as employees and subsequently the lack of belief in the value of investing in women in the labour force.
“More importantly, it highlights the need for support from the government for implementation of these amendments – this comes back to embracing equity. Employers particularly smaller businesses including women owned businesses need support and incentivisation at least in the short term to help cover costs of women taking an extra month of maternity leave.
“It really shows that we must begin unpacking how our society sees and appreciates the contributions of women and their rights as equals in Malaysia,” she says.
For International Women’s Day this year, let us focus on getting everyone on board in making Malaysia a better country for women.
“We must pledge to learn and share the impact of gender equality and equity on all of us. This is the only way to ensure long lasting protection of our rights, empowerment and move our society towards supporting equality,” she concludes.
