Joint Press Statement
The Ninth Malaysia Plan:
26 April 2006

Since 1991, the government of Malaysia has included in its five-year development plans, a dedicated chapter on Women and Development. On the whole, these have primarily regarded women as resources to be mobilised for national good. The Ninth Malaysia Plan (2006-2010) continues the trend of its predecessors by wanting to "ensure more participation of women in national development" and accordingly, proposing to equip them with "necessary skills and knowledge to be competitive and versatile".

While the Joint Action Group on Gender Equality (JAG) appreciates the government's efforts to address women's concerns through its development plans, we also wish to highlight some concerns that we have with its latest proposals.

I. Framework

The Ninth Malaysia Plan assumes that women are valuable only because of their current roles in and potential contributions to the nation's development. Accordingly, the strategies forwarded are skewed towards facilitating this, either by improving women's abilities and skills, providing training and education, extending financial assistance or enacting laws and policies in the name of protection. While these are important steps to take, as a whole, this approach of adding women into development is inadequate because it does not address the complexities of women's lives.

For example, women have multiple identities and needs, and these should be dealt with as well. More importantly, the existing approach does not incorporate the principles of equality and non-discrimination as provided for under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination (CEDAW), and ratified by the Malaysian government as far back as 1995.

II. Production and Reproduction

Some of the strategies forwarded in the chapter on Women and Development will benefit women in the long run. For instance, the strategy to increase women's participation in the labour force by allowing them to be better placed to juggle both family-nurturing and nation-building responsibilities. This is being encouraged by giving women the option of flexible hours, telework, part-time work, and job sharing.

In itself, the move is welcome but the fact that the same opportunities are not offered to men is problematic. At the end of the day, one of the greatest barriers to women's equal participation in the economy is the belief that the burden of responsibility for the family lies solely in women's hands. Until, and unless we start believing that men and women have an equal role to play in the home - just as they do in the public sphere - and follow this with appropriate actions, women will continue to find it difficult to enter the labour force in greater numbers.

Similarly, the proposal to increase education and training opportunities is also laudable. But rather than limiting these to skills building exercises, they should include awareness raising and information on breaking gender stereotypes, given that these are a major obstacle towards women's equality.

III. Research and Development

With the exception of single mothers and rural women, it is unclear which other groups of women will be the beneficiaries of the overall programmes under the Ninth Malaysia Plan. There is thus a need for the government to spell this out more clearly in its follow-up action plans. After all, women are not a homogenous group, and there cannot be a 'one-size fits all' approach - a point recognised in some parts of the proposed plan but not carefully applied across board.

In this regard, the removal of the section on "Research and Development" that featured in the Eighth Malaysia Plan is worrying. Research is crucial to bring out the differences and specific concerns of the different groups of women in this country. It is also necessary for the development of more contextualised and appropriate recommendations for change. The availability of gender disaggregated data will help in this exercise, but it should be complemented with data that is also disaggregated by other variables e.g. income, ethnicity, geographical location, etc.

Comprehensive and independent research must be accompanied with political will on the part of the Malaysian government in implementing policies toward achieving the objectives of the Ninth Malaysia Plan. The setting up of a Project and Programme Management System to monitor the coordination and implementation of projects can and should ensure that substantial headway be made on these issues, and so that conceptual weaknesses of the Plan can be rectified in its execution.

IV. Equality and Non-Discrimination

The government has introduced a number of laws and policies to institutionalise formal equality between women and men. The inclusion of gender as a ground for non-discrimination into Article 8 of the Federal Constitution is a notable step in this direction.

However, it has been much less effective in ensuring that these provisions translate into real equality for women. For example, the decision in the case of Beatrice Fernandez -v- MAS and Others, shows clearly that much more needs to be done before measures like this actually make a difference in women's lives.

On the other hand, JAG has also previously highlighted how there are still other laws that either need amending (e.g. the Islamic Family Law, the Domestic Violence Act 1994, the laws relating to rape) or enactment (e.g. the proposed Sexual Harassment Bill). The United Nations' Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) which was ratified by Malaysia in 1995 has yet to be incorporated into Malaysian law. None of these are included in the Ninth Malaysia Plan. Yet, their importance cannot be overemphasised as the basis of JAG's recommendations lie in the elimination of discrimination against women.

V. Participation in Public Life

While the proposal for a 30 per cent quota system for women in politics and public life is a positive start, policies aimed at ending discrimination against women participating in public decision-making should be the next step in the process. Existing discriminatory practices that impede or obstruct women's involvement at the entry level must be identified and eradicated.

Furthermore, there is a need for more mechanisms to encourage the participation of women in politics and public life, such as the return to local council elections so that women are able to have their voices count at the most basic unit of decision-making the country. In the interim, more women who represent the range of women's interests should be appointed as local councillors.

Finally, women NGOs, like other members of civil society, have a role to play in the process of development planning. The inclusion of their views is thus not only important but a necessary step to foster better governance practices.

Honey Tan Lay Ean
Executive Director
All Women's Action Society (AWAM)

For and behalf of the Joint Action Group for Gender Equality (JAG):
Sisters in Islam (SIS)
All Women's Action Society (AWAM)
Women's Aid Organisation (WAO)
Women's Centre for Change Penang (WCC)
Women's Development Collective (WDC)
MTUC - Women's Section

Related Resources:

• Full text of the 9th Malaysian Plan