Continue reform agendas for women call
KOTA KINABALU: Continue the reform agendas for women that were initiated by the Warisan Plus government, urged Kapayan assemblywoman and Sabah DAP Women chief Jannie Lasimbang.
“The GRS (Gabungan Rakyat Sabah) government should hold the DUN (State Legislative Assembly) sitting as soon as possible so that important policies, including such reform agendas for Sabah can be clearly spelled out as was done annually during the opening of the DUN,” she said in a statement here yesterday.
She said among the top three reform agendas for women, initiated personally by Jannie while in government, were ending marriages below the age of 18, advocacy and empowerment to attain 30% women quota at all levels, and increased welfare support for women.
Jannie said that the Sabah DAP Women were also directly involved in these efforts, and continue to seek support from relevant ministries, government agencies and NGOs to move these reforms forward.
“The Warisan Plus government adopted the policy to set the minimum age of marriage at 18 years in October 2018. A 10-Year Plan to end marriage below 18 years was also formulated, involving legal amendments to the Native and Syariah courts enactments, and several coordinated activities by various stakeholders,” she said.
“For the Native Court Enactment 1992, a guideline for marriage applications under Native Court Rules was completed and was hoped to get Cabinet approval. For the Syariah Court, the guidelines are already being implemented.
“Awareness-raising talks in schools and for young workers in city centers, production of audio-visual materials for the media, and other public activities are being currently organized in collaboration with government agencies, NGOs and the private sectors after targeted research was completed in 2020,” she added.
According to Jannie, in 2019, the Sabah Government set a 20% quota for women in decision-making positions.
“Since then, there have been many ongoing efforts by the DAP women in collaboration with NGOs to set the quota to 30% in line with national and international standards,” she said.
“Among these efforts are advocacy meetings with various ministries, holding leadership training especially targeting rural and indigenous women to develop their potential to take up positions as community leaders, as well as advocating for more women in the political arena.
“While the Sabah government has acknowledged the importance of adopting the 30% quota for women, it has not been formally adopted as a policy,” she added.
She pointed out that there have also been constant calls on the government of the day to accord better policies to protect women by providing more legal aid for victims of domestic violence and sexual harassment, and the implementation of the One Stop Crisis Centre in all hospitals.
“Increased welfare assistance needed are support for women entrepreneurs and single mothers through training and cash assistance as well providing information on various aids by the government and private sectors,” she added.
“The Sabah DAP and other Warisan Plus assemblymen have been especially active in providing and calling for increased welfare support especially during the Covid-19 pandemic through food aid, assisting frontliners, and public registration drive for the vaccine,” she concluded.