KUALA LUMPUR: The formulation of bills and policies aimed at providing gender equality and increasing motions of women empowerment to be debated in Parliament are among the targets set by the Council of Malaysian Women Political Leaders (Comwel).
Comwel comprises 13 female members of parliament (MP) and 31 assemblywomen.
The council said in a statement today that it agreed with the joint statement issued by women MPs urging the Malaysian parliament to be more gender-sensitive, adding that it would like to join in the efforts to realise the agenda.
“The effort to make the Malaysian Parliament as a gender-sensitive institution is a progressive effort that requires the comprehensive cooperation of all parties, whether in the government bloc or the opposition,“ read the statement.
Comwel is also set to strike a balance in the number of gender representation among delegates in Parliament, fight for budgets and allocations that are more women-friendly and gender-sensitive.
It said even though Malaysia has yet to reach 30 per cent of female involvement at its Parliament and state assemblies as mandated by the United Nations, there were several milestones that it could be proud of such as the appointment of the first woman Dewan Rakyat deputy speaker which is an indication of the country’s capability to elevate more women leaders to a higher level.
In conjunction with International Women’s Day tomorrow, it hoped that women’s empowerment agenda and gender mainstreaming would be intensified accordingly to allow women in Malaysia to be viable and successful, it said.
Women leaders should unite beyond the political divide as this would accelerate the women empowerment agenda to achieve the set targets that would in turn benefit all women in Malaysia, it said. -Bernama
