KUALA LUMPUR: The government has no intention to make it mandatory for there to be 30 per cent female involvement in government and politics, said the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry.
Its deputy minister Hannah Yeoh said that the government has no intention to make such a percentage compulsory at Parliament and state assemblies.
“Based on Election Commission (EC) records, only 75 women contested as candidates in Parliament compared to 687 male candidates.
“The problem is not that we lack women leaders but lack seats. Party presidents must, when they give seats to women, ensure that it is a winnable seat and not merely to fulfil a quota,” she said to applause across the political divide at the Dewan Rakyat today.
She was answering a question from Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri (PBB-Batang Sadong) on whether the ministry would implement a 30 per cent quota system in Parliament and state assemblies.
Under Pakatan Harapan’s (PH) Manifesto in the run-up to the 14th General Election, PH vowed to ensure that women will make up at least 30 per cent of Malaysia’s policymakers.
Yeoh today said that the ministry wasaware that the 30 per cent female involvement was necessary to achieve gender parity in the country’s development.
She noted that Malaysia, according to the World Economic Forum 2017’s Gender Gap Index, was number 104 out of 144 countries in strengthening women’s role and involvement in politics.
“Our score is 0.058 out of 1 and this is a very low mark.
“However, I am confident that this score will increase (for the year 2018) due to the appointment of a woman Deputy Prime Minister (Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail),” Yeoh said.