COMMENT | Today marks a dark day for women in Sabah as their status and position in the state has reached rock bottom. As a women’s rights group working for the advancement of women in Sabah since 1986, the Sabah Women's Action Resource Group (Sawo) is angry and disappointed that there are no women ministers in the new Sabah cabinet.
All of the positions are taken up by men, including the social development portfolio, which is usually the token position given to a woman politician. During the previous Warisan-led government, a woman politician was appointed as a deputy chief minister as well as the state tourism, culture and environment minister. This was considered by some quarters to be a vast improvement in the position of women in the state cabinet.
In this new Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS)-led cabinet, women are now not even considered qualified enough to handle social development issues in the state. Women have no place in the highest decision making body in the state.
Women’s representation in the state assembly has been decreasing over the years and is now less than 10 percent. Sawo, together with other groups, urge the government to improve this pathetic and unjust situation by appointing women into the six nominated Legislative Assembly seats.
As a country that practises the democratic electoral system, the individuals who deserve to be the nominated assemblypersons should be those who stood in the just-completed state election. The six best women candidate losers very much deserve to be appointed as nominated assemblypersons because they actually ran for the election and captured between 35 percent and 42 percent of the total votes cast in their respective constituencies.
Instead, five men and one woman, who did not even stand in the election, were appointed. To add insult to injury, a PAS member, whose party did not even compete in the election, was also appointed.
We call upon all those appointed to show a sense of fair play and justice by resigning and making way for the six best losers who are women with the guts to stand for the election and did pretty well at that.
It is ironic that male politicians have to resort to being nominated as members of the State Assembly when they dominate the political arena. Nominated seats are a form of affirmative action to ensure the inclusion of all communities to reflect the diversity and multiculturalism of all Sabahans. So, if women are marginalised in the State Assembly, they should be nominated; not more men!
The message of this GRS-led government to Sabahan women is very loud and clear. They think that Sabahan women are not good enough, nor capable enough, to deserve a seat at the table together with male leaders to govern the state.
Our message to the new government: Ignore women at your own peril. We have seen how countries with women leaders have done better in combating the Covid-19 pandemic. Some examples include New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, Denmark Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, Iceland Premier Katrin Jakodsdottir, Finland Premier Sanna Marin and Taiwan President Tsai Ing-Wen.
In this 21st Century, women all over the world are taking their rightful place in leading their communities and countries. The question of whether women are capable to lead is no longer an issue. But in Sabah, it seems that women are still far from achieving this status. This is such a shame because when women are empowered, the whole society, including families and communities, would gain.
THE SABAH WOMEN'S ACTION RESOURCE GROUP (Sawo) strives for women's rights and gender equality.
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