Govt formulating gender equality bill for women, says DPM

KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian government is committed to ensuring that women enjoy their human rights and fundamental freedom, says Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.

She says in realising this commitment, the government is working towards formulating a gender equality bill as an investment for the country at several levels.

“The commitment towards increasing women’s leadership representation in the government is clearly evidenced by the number of senior cabinet ministerial appointments.

“Currently, we have five women ministers (17.86 per cent) out of 28 ministers and 4 women deputy ministers (14.81 per cent) out of 27 deputy ministers,” she said in her speech when officiating at ‘The Big Tulip Summit — Women in Business, Industry, and Government Programme’ being held here for two days, beginning yesterday.

The programme, themed ‘ The Power of Purpose, Positivity and Resilience’, is organised by the Othman Yeop Abdullah Graduate School of Business, Universiti Utara Malaysia ( UUM).

Dr Wan Azizah said presently, in Malaysia there are 32 women (14.41 per cent) out of 222 members in the House of Representatives and 13 women (19.4 per cent) out of 67 in the Senate.

The increase in percentage of women in the field of politics would ensure that more women’s voices could be heard at the highest level of decision-making in the country, she added.

She said the National Policy on Women and its Action Plan is also a reflection of the government’s commitment in ensuring the participation of women towards achieving their full potential in the country’s planning and development.