Malaysia flayed for asking women not to nag husbands during COVID-19

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia apologised on Tuesday after telling women to speak with a cartoon cat voice and avoid nagging their husbands during coronavirus lockdowns, a move that sparked a sexism row.

Malaysia’s women’s affairs ministry issued advice on how to avoid domestic conflicts during the partial lockdown, which began on March 18, with a series of online posters with the hashtag translating as #Womenpreventcovid19.

One of the campaign posters depicted a man sitting on a sofa and asked women to refrain from being “sarcastic” if they needed help with household chores.

One post - now deleted - showed a picture of a couple hanging up clothes together next to a caption that advised women to “avoid nagging” their husbands and to imitate the squeaky voice of Doraemon, a blue robot cat from Japan that is hugely popular across Asia.

The ministry also urged women to dress up and wear makeup while working from home.

Social media lit up with anger and disbelief at the posts, with one netizen asking “how will dressing up and putting on make-up at home (prevent) COVID-19? Pray, tell?”

“We apologise if some of the tips we shared were inappropriate and touched on the sensitivities of some parties,” the ministry’s women development department said in a statement.

But it insisted the suggestions were merely aimed at “maintaining positive relationships among family members during the period they are working from home”.

The apology came after the online posters sparked a public outcry. The posters have since been removed.

“(It) is extremely condescending both to women and men,” said Nisha Sabanayagam, a manager at All Women’s Action Society, a Malaysian advocacy group.

“These posters promote the concept of gender inequality and perpetuate the concept of patriarchy,” she told media by phone.

A government hotline that helps domestic abuse victims and vulnerable children has received nearly 2,000 calls - more than doubled the usual numbers - since the start of the partial lockdown, local media reported.

“How did we go from preventing baby dumping, fighting domestic violence to some sad variant of the Obedient Wives Club?” Twitter user @yinshaoloong wrote before the apology.

“No tips on how to deal with domestic violence?” asked another user @honeyean.

Women’s groups have warned lockdowns could see a rise in domestic violence, with women trapped with their abusers. Some governments have stepped up response, including in France which offers hotel rooms to victims.

Malaysia is ranked 104 out of 153 countries in the latest World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap index, after scoring poorly on political empowerment and economic participation.

Like many countries, the Southeast Asian nation has ordered all citizens to stay at home to stem the spread of the virus, which has killed over 30,000 people globally.

Malaysia’s stay-at-home order has prevented major daily spikes in coronavirus infections, the government said on Tuesday, but the World Bank warned the trade-reliant country’s economy would shrink this year for the first time in more than a decade.

Malaysia recorded 140 new coronavirus cases and six deaths on Tuesday, taking the total number of infections to 2,766 with 43 fatalities. Nearly half of its infections are linked to a religious gathering held late last month.

The country, which has the highest number of reported cases in Southeast Asia, has imposed month-long restrictions on travel and non-essential business that expire on April 14 to contain the spread of the respiratory illness.

“We have not lost the war against COVID-19, neither have we won the war yet,” Noor Hisham Abdullah, director general of the Ministry of Health, said on Twitter.

“We need each and everyone of you to break the chain of transmission. Please continue to stay at home, practice frequent hand-washing and keep a distance from others. So far, we are succeeding with no spike of cases.”

The number of coronavirus infections has risen by generally 140-200 a day since restrictions on movement were imposed two weeks ago. Noor Hisham said on Saturday that if cases surged to 1,000 a day, there could be a shortage of hospital beds to treat patients.

Meanwhile, the World Bank forecast that Malaysia’s economy, Southeast Asia’s third biggest, would contract 0.1% this year, sharply down from its previous projection of 4.5% growth, and actual growth of 4.3% last year, under the impact of the virus.

The economy last slipped below zero in 2009, dragged down by the global financial crisis.

“The large degree of uncertainty over the outcome of the (coronavirus) outbreak presents a major downside risk to the economy,” the bank said in a statement.

“An uncontained or further deterioration of the outbreak would result in more severe or prolonged restrictions on overall economic activities, posing a further drag on growth into 2021.”