Advice leaves many hot under the collar

THE Women and Family Development Ministry (KPWKM) took to its official Instagram account on March 30 to share some advice for wives and families during the movement control order (MCO) period.

Netizens took to Twitter to express their horror at the pictures posted, in particular one which seems to be giving advice to women. It states that if you see your partner doing something that you do not want them to do, refrain from nagging them and use “humorous” words like “Cara sidai baju macam ni lah sayangku (This is the way to hang clothes up, my love)”, speaking in a Doraemon voice while giggling. Doraemon was even trending on Malaysian Twitter because of the uproar that ensued following the ministry’s Instagram post.

At this point, it all seems like a cruel joke. In such turbulent times, we don’t need government bodies to add fuel to the fire by being demeaning and degrading to us women.

While it can be argued that due to misguided and misinterpreted religious and cultural values, the Malaysia that we live in today is an inherently patriarchal and misogynistic society, this time of Covid-19 is one in which we should be able to let prejudices fall to the wayside and come together to focus on what really matters. Such remarks will only prevent Malaysia from becoming the developed country that it so wishes to be.

Instead of perpetuating it further, KPWKM should be focusing on coming to the aid of women and their families in a way that does not highlight the misogynistic tendencies of our country.

KPWKM should concentrate on dealing with more substantial issues during the MCO period, such as the availability of pre-natal services for women, welfare of female medical workers, supply of female sanitary products for underprivileged women, domestic violence, and the fate of SMEs owned by women.

KPWKM should focus more of their energy on the above issues rather than dishing out advice that looks like it would have appeared in an issue of Good Housekeeping in the 1960s. Such advice would be chauvinistic coming from anyone, but especially from a ministry that is supposed to champion women’s rights.

With one post, the Women and Family Development Ministry has set the women’s rights movement back decades. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, and Malaysian women sure are furious. Now, was that clear enough or do I need to say it in a Doraemon voice?