Strive to stand out, women told

KUALA LUMPUR: Women should strive to stand out in politics and government so that they can highlight their leadership skills, said Communications and Multimedia Minister Datuk Seri Salleh Said Keruak.

He said they had an important role in nation-building but they often kept out of media spotlight.

“Women should be motivated to highlight their capabilities, professionalism and roles in the country’s leadership,” he said at the “Women Power Talk: Advancing ‘U’ Through Media” programme at Putra World Trade Centre here yesterday.

The talk was organised by Wanita Umno’s professional bureau. Present was Wanita Umno chief Tan Sri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil.

Salleh said the need to have more women leaders was to boost gender equality, especially in public and political roles.

“In terms of gender inequality, we are not far behind developed countries like Australia, the United States and Luxembourg.”

He said based on the Global Gap report on gender inequality published on Nov 2, Malaysia was at 0.67 compared with Luxembourg and the US at 0.706 and 0.718, respectively.

“Score indicator 1 as equality and 0 as inequality used in the survey shows that Malaysia’s score improved from 0.655 in 2015 to 0.6658 last year, and 0.67 this year.”

The report, Salleh said, showed women’s achievement score was above men’s in the fields of education (0.991), health (0.977) and the economy (0.65).

“When compared with other developed nations, the survey shows that Malaysian women need to expose themselves in political mastery to be seen and appreciated by the public.”

Salleh said Malaysia lagged in this aspect with a score of 0.058 compared with Luxembourg (0.184), the US (0.124) and Australia (0.232).

He said women should continue to equip themselves with the necessarily knowledge, not only in women affairs but in all other aspects, including becoming technologically savvy.