Sabah challenged to formulate guidelines for women appointments
Published on: Saturday, April 19, 2014
Kota Kinabalu: Sabah has been challenged to take the lead in formulating special guidelines for elected representatives (State Assemblymen and State Assemblywomen) to nominate or appoint women to positions in municipal councils, district councils, town boards and village security & development committees (JKKKs).Associate Professor Dr Madeline Berma of UKM Faculty of Economy and Management, threw the challenge at the Discourse on Gender Perspective In Development Transformation in Sabah for the State Legislative Assembly, recently.She said the power to appoint women lies within the jurisdiction of elected representatives but there must be special guidelines for the purpose.
ADVERTISEMENT
"Currently, we don't have such guidelines, and I hope Sabah will spearhead the initiative towards achieving gender equality."Support from the leaders is crucial in appointing women to decision-making positions. On top of it, we must have political will that is supported by a clear women's policy and regulations," she said.
ADVERTISEMENT
Dr Berma, who is Director of the Tun Fatimah Hashim Women's Leadership Centre at UKM, stressed that women's status in society is an indicator of a dynamic and progressive nation.In her presentation on Gender and Development, she dispelled the myth that the term "gender" is associated with women only.
ADVERTISEMENT
"That is inaccurate. Gender covers aspects relating to both men and women so when we identify gender roles, we include the male gender and female gender. "Basically, men have two roles from the productive and community perspectives while women play three roles in being productive and reproductive, as well as active in community work."Therefore, in gender planning and development, the gender perspective comes into play which means we duly consider gender needs, that is, the needs of both men and women," she explained.Dr Berma said policy-makers, planners and implementers cannot afford to be gender blind (not taking gender into consideration) in the realm of development, adding "To ensure gender equity, we must put in place a mechanism for monitoring the indicators of socio-economic progress."According to her, a lot of public facilities, for example toilets, are not "gender friendly" in the sense that they are not safe for use by women."Obviously, toilet designers concerned did not consider the gender perspective in the first place."At the Q&A session, she was assisted by Dr Nasrudin Subhi who is the Coordinator for Masters in Social Sciences (Counselling Psychology) at the School of Psychology Studies and Human Development under UKM Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities.The discourse also heard that at the moment, Sabah does not have a woman district officer. Luvita Koisun, then the only woman DO serving in Kota Marudu, has since been promoted.In response, State Assembly Speaker, Datuk Salleh Tun Said suggested that qualified women be appointed as assistant district officers first so that they stand a chance to be promoted to district officers when the time comes.He also stressed that apart from the political arena, capable women can also be accorded leadership positions in many other avenues even at grassroots level.Meanwhile, Deputy State Secretary (Administration), Datuk Asnimar Sukardi, who was present, raised the possibility of giving women a chance to be Nominated Assemblywomen."This would increase women's voice in the State Legislative Assembly," said the former MPWS Chairperson. The discourse was organised by the Sabah Women's Advisory Council (MPWS) Gender Sensitivity Committee with the cooperation of the State Legislative Assembly at the State Assembly Building. MPWS Chairperson Datuk Mariati Robert officiated at the event.Upon request by Salleh, Chairperson of the MPWS Gender Sensitivity Committee, Datuk Hjh Siti Aishah Mohd Asri said the discourse will be held again sometime in July to enable more elected representatives, district officers and assistant district officers to attend.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
Daily Express Malaysia
