In certain ways, our country has achieved progress at the workplace but a recent report HERE in Malaysian Insider shows that certain attitudes about women have not been eradicated and continue to affect women who seek equal opportunities at work.
Let's be honest. Since the beginning of time, women have been seen as lesser beings to men. In many cultures, they are the cause of many problems. From the Christian viewpoint, Eve is the weaker being because she succumbed to temptation and told Adam to eat the forbidden fruit. Throughout history, women are perceived to be inferior to men and were denied of the right to vote. In some countries, they could not own property, were forced into prostitution if a family was poor or even denied the right to have custody of their children. It almost seems as though women will always be under the control of men!!!
Traditionally, sexism has been a female problem. Women were habitually overlooked for responsible positions in companies, even though they were perfectly suitable for the job. How often do we hear of men suffering from sexism?
I am quite surprised that Datuk Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, Minister for Women, Family and Community Development, has not responded to that report in Malaysian Insider.
Extract from Malaysian Insider (I have responded in italicized font)
“I never said it was a problem that women are working in the civil service. What I said was that in the long run, the dominance of female presence in the service would have a negative impact on the growth and progress of the country,” he told The Malaysian Insider last night.
*Criteria for assessment of this negative impact must be specified and backed by official statistics
* Growth in what terms? Absolute terms? Relative terms? His terms?
*progress of the country in which area? Specify!
*Does this mean women are a liability in public service?
* How do the other women in public service feel about this? WOMEN, Please speak up!!!
He explained that the negative impact would be due to women’s general working attitudes which tended to be inflexible and rigid as well as the fact that they needed to take long maternity leaves.
* Define inflexible! What is his yardstick?
* How did he arrive at this conclusion?
* Does he have any data from public service records to show the inflexibility of women?
* What does he mean by "inflexibility" and "rigid"?
* What is wrong with taking maternity leave as specified in the Labour Law? Does this mean the Labour Department has erred in determining the period of maternity leave????
Ahmad Shah added that the government not only should adhere to its policy of reserving 30 per cent of decision making posts for women, but should also tweak the criterion for qualifying candidates into the posts.
*Does this imply compromising standards?????
“At the present moment, candidates are chosen based on their academic qualifications — at least 90 per cent of the criterion is based on academic achievements. But this does not suffice in the real world.
* What would suffice? Is he implying that educational institutions are NOT playing an effective role in preparing people for the job force????? What then is he suggesting? A complete overhaul in education systems all over the world???
“In that case, even a blind person can get the job, so long as he or she fulfills the relevant qualifications,” he said, adding that most women were generally better than men in academics.
*What is wrong with being BLIND? Isn't this discriminating against the visually-challenged??????
* He mentioned that women are better than men academically - this is a sexist statement that puts men in a bad light. HOW DO THE MEN FEEL? This is an affront to men!!! Come on men - SPEAK UP!!!
* Does he have data to prove this?
* Academics - How did he arrive at his conclusion? Statements which are not backed by evidence can be perceived to be stereotypical statements or oversimplification or overgeneralization - evidence that one displays fallacious thinking!
Ahmad Shah suggested that the criterion be expanded to include emotional strengths, ability to cope under pressure, leadership skills and other skills.
* Is he implying that by doing so, he can prove that men are better than women?
“There must be a mechanism proposed to measure these things before a candidate is selected. Only then is the candidate suitable to hold the respective post,” he said.
* Mechanism? Isn't this a form of rigidity that someone must fit into the template for the position - then only he/she QUALIFIES to hold the job???But did he also not say that women are INFLEXIBLE and RIGID? A clear case of someone who can see the log in his brother's eye but not the speck in his own!!!
In his statement earlier, Ahmad Shah had also said that almost three quarters of the new posts in the administrative and diplomatic service were currently being filled by women.
* Is that a problem? Is this a valid statement or a sweeping statement? 75% is a relative figure. Where are the absolute figures, sir? From which data base did he get this figure?
His claim however was contested by the Public Services Department, which revealed that female presence on the higher management, management and professional as well as support staff roles in the service was 53 per cent in comparison with men at 47 per cent.
* Well, obviously he did not get his database from PSD because the PSD clearly shows only a small difference compared to his claim.
According to its figures, women made up 28 per cent of the higher management workforce, 61 per cent of the management and professional fields and 50 per cent in the support staff group.
Ahmad Shah however insisted that the 61 per cent ultimately meant that in the coming five years, females would dominate the majority of the higher managerial posts in the service.
*How did he arrive at that conclusion?
* Is it a problem if that were to happen? I wonder how he would survive in Tchambuli and Kgatla tribes. :-)
“It is this way now and the same group would be promoted and will form the team for the higher managerial posts. As mentioned before, this affects the delivery system of the service,” he said.
*How will it affect the delivery in real, tangible and intangible terms?
When questioned on whether the present female dominance in the service merely meant that the men, especially the youths, were not interested or incompetent, Ahmad Shah again blamed it on the qualification criteria.
* Again - another criticism of the existing qualifications criteria and standards!
“Woman are better at academics somehow,” he said.
*The second affront to men's neurons in this article. MEN SPEAK UP!!!
According to the 2007 statistics from the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry, the female labour force made up for only 36 per cent of the total labour force of about 10.5 million people.
I really want to know how he arrived at such conclusions.How does he know for a fact that those women are not working just as hard as any of their male coworkers and that they are rigid, inflexible etc? If he is so knowledgeable about women, why is not assisting Datuk Shahrizat in her department?
The elimination of discrimination in employment and the workplace is a fundamental human right, as reflected in a plethora of United Nations and International Labor Organization legal instruments. The Generalized System of Preferences covers other internationally protected workers' rights. Women workers do not deserve second-class treatment, and it's high time Ahmad recognizes that.
If we allow women to be discriminated in the work place, where will we finally draw the line? We have come very far from neanderthal times, where a man was allowed to beat his wife with a stick no thicker then his thumb, hence the term, "Rule of thumb."
Clearly, we still have such a long way to go, before women in our society have equal rights and status with men. How can anyone make and defend such claims publicly not once but twice? It requires every single one of us - male and female alike - to unite in solidarity to end traditions, practices, and laws that allow any form of discrimination!!
It is a struggle for freedom to be fully and completely human and equal without apology or permission. The cause for women's human rights is not about burning bras but all about making women's lives matter everywhere, at every point in time, in any situation be it at work or at home!!! Leaders MUST take action to stop sexual discrimination against women, and allow women to be treated at the equals for who they are and not what some people perceived them to be.
Click HERE to watch Helen Reddy sing I AM WOMAN.
So what if I am a woman? Does it make me a lesser being?
Anonymous Dear MWS, I shall not dwell on this matter much. ;)
Briefly, I'll say that the drag on efficiency on employing too many (married)females in the Gomen service is real because many of 'em makes many babies and darn frequently. Replacements for their materity leaves afterwards are often unavailable.
I can elaborate more but will not because the situation should be self-evident there wrt who are the types.
The situation in the private sector however may be quite different ; so it depends on the backdrop employers' situation and management. There really is no easy blanket labelling on sexism or not sexism, as such.
But I absolutely agree with you that misogyny lite exists strongly in this sick society especially because of sh*tty Arab cultural overhang.
~wits0~