If you are a woman in Malaysia, you are less equal compared to another male citizen. To make it simple, for every RM1 a man earns, you will only earn RM0.58. This is just an example to show why Malaysian women are akin to second-class citizens.

More often than not, when one discusses about women’s rights, the nature of discussion revolves around how their rights are violated when they are expected solely to care for the children, abandoned by their spouses without any financial aid or when the women are criticised for their attires in public.

Women in Malaysia are regarded as fully enfranchised from the male control, unlike in the olden days. They are seen as equally treated as their male counterparts and not discriminated. This, however, is not completely true.

In the Global Gender Gap 2015 by the World Economic Forum, Malaysia has scored 0.655. A score of 0 indicates perfect inequality and the other end of the spectrum (which is a score of 1), indicates perfect equality. Looking at the score, Malaysians should not be too quick in being proud of the ‘accomplishment’.

This is because, although Malaysia's score is above the midpoint, its ranking internationally is saddening. Malaysia has been ranked at the 111th spot out of a total of 145 countries. For a country that tries to be in the high-income league within five years, this is indeed shocking.

Yet, this is not the peak of the shock. Scrutinising the Global Gender Gap reports in the past five years (2011-2015), Malaysia's ranking has been deteriorating. Since 2011, in which Malaysia’s ranking was at 97th , it has been falling until reaching 111th rank in 2015. But the ‘good’ news is, Malaysia's score has improved (albeit very marginally) from 0.653 in 2011 to 0.655 in 2015. An improvement of 0.002.

The latest report was published only a few weeks ago, yet received minimal coverage in the media, unlike other rankings where Malaysia has performed incredibly.

How are women treated in the employment sector?

The Department of Statistics Malaysia’s ‘Salaries & Wages Survey Report 2014' has found that the median monthly wage of male employees was RM1,600 while the female employees' median stood at RM1,500. The same report has shown that the gender wage gap in 2014 was 5.8 percent. To add salt to injury, the gender wage gap has only increased compared to 2013, when it was at 4.6 percent.

It is understandable when women are underpaid if they are lowly skilled and are less experienced. But in Malaysia, it may not be necessarily so. In Malaysia, among the population that have attained tertiary education, female-male ratio stands at 1.21. This means that there are more females with tertiary education and Malaysia is also ranked first in the world. This is a great accomplishment of our education system.

Considering this, it is a big question on why women are lowly paid compared to their male counterparts.

Of course, there will be voices claiming that tertiary education alone may not guarantee appropriate salaries. These voices will suggest that women are less skilled and less experienced, and thus, their pay will be low as well.

The Statistics Department’s Salaries and Wages Survey Report 2013 has shown that women in Malaysia earn 18-39 percent less than the men. For example, in the ‘skilled workers’ category, a woman earned 39.7 percent less than a man. In the ‘managers’ category, a woman earned 18.7 percent less than a man.

Considering the fact that a person will not be able appointed to a managerial post without high skills, how did the women within the category be entitled to such a low pay relative to a man's salary?

The latest Global Gender Gap report has indicated that in Malaysia, the female-male ratio in wage equality for similar work is at 0.81. In simpler terms, a woman only earns 81 percent of what a man earns even though both have completed the same work. A point to ponder is, do women in Malaysia deserve this discrimination?

How are women treated in politics?

Malaysia's political sphere has seen the presence of some strong female leadership in the past and also in the present. A few notable names would be Rafidah Aziz, Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, Nurul Izzah Anwar and perhaps few others.

But undeniably, in general, the domestic political arena is dominated by the presence of the male politicians. Top posts in political parties are predominantly controlled by men as well as in the federal and the states’ executive branches. Positions in political parties are usually earned through one’s charisma and strong leadership skills (not to mention the presence of bribery).

The question is, are women in politics less competitive than their male counterparts or women simply despise partaking in politics? Or perhaps, is it the male chauvinism in political parties that prevent the growth of women in politics?

Looking at the composition of women in the lower chamber of the Parliament (Dewan Rakyat), one can simply deduce that women are poorly represented. After the 12th and 13th general elections of Malaysia, proportion of elected female representative in the Parliament, stagnated at a paltry 10 percent.

The Global Gender Gap 2015 ranked Malaysia at 134 out of 145 countries. It means Malaysia is at the bottom 20 countries worldwide, as per the report. This poor representation can be explained by lack of women nominated by political parties in the general elections.

The ugly truth is, the perception that women are not suitable for political contestations still lingers. Just before the 2013 general election, Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man (Pahang PAS commissioner) stated that the state committee has decided not to field any women among the 40 percent of ‘new faces’ going into the general election. He believes that they were not ready “due to work and other commitments”.

Not only that, recently during the Selangor crisis of appointing the next menteri besar after Khalid Ibrahim, an Umno lawyer, Mohd Hafarizam Harun, said Wan Azizah Wan Ismail is not suitable for the post as she suffers from menses monthly. If even the Opposition Leader of the Dewan Rakyat is discriminated because of her gender, what about others?

In the 2013 general election, Barisan Nasional nominated 727 candidates (parliamentary and state assembly). Out of these, only 71 of them are females and they form 9.8 percent of the total nominated candidates. On the other hand, the now defunct Pakatan Rakyat nominated 733 candidates and 77 of them are females. This essentially means that 10.5 percent of the candidates nominated by Pakatan Rakyat are females, which is marginally higher than BN by 0.7 percent.

Looking at the federal cabinet composition, women representation has been at dismal proportions for years. The author has analysed federal cabinet compositions (excluding deputy ministers) under the last three prime ministers. The analysis includes the cabinet line-ups in 1999 (under Dr Mahathir Mohamad); 2004, 2006 and 2008 (under Abdullah Ahmad Badawi) as well as 2009, 2013, 2015 (under Najib Abdul Razak).

The years 2006, 2009 and 2015 indicate the line-ups after cabinet reshuffling. It has been found that from 1999 to 2015, the maximum number of women ministers has been at merely three. This is indeed shocking. In 1999, female representation in the cabinet stood at 10.71 percent. The average during the Abdullah administration was at 8.24 percent while the Najib administration’s was at 7.16 percent.

It can be said that the percentage of female representation in the cabinet has been falling through the years.

Recommendation

As this article has focused on employment and politics, it is recommended that the government introduces new measures in helping the women increase their participation in these areas. Although the existing Industrial Relation Act 1967 provides for an Industrial Court, it has been widely criticised as time-consuming and inefficient.

Thus, in the interest of honouring the rights of the women in the employment sector, a statutory commission should be established to cater to the complaints from women in the workforce in regards to discrimination and to act upon the complaints promptly. This commission should be empowered to audit all business entities against discrimination of workers (regardless of gender).

This commission should be able to fill in the gap left by poor workers' related laws and trade unions in Malaysia. The commission should also be powerful in penalising businesses that discriminate against workers because of their gender.

Apart from that, Bursa Malaysia and Companies Commission of Malaysia should make it mandatory for businesses to report the ‘level of equality’ in wage payment and others, annually. This will enable the creation of proper database of treatment of workers that can be utilised by the aforementioned commission.

The Parliament should amend the Election Act to include statutory provision that 30 percent of parliamentary and state seats in each states will be designated only for female-contestation. India, for example, has somewhat determined that certain constituencies can only be contested by women. By allowing 30 percent of each states’ political seats only for women, it can remarkably increase female participation in the political arena.

Not only that, each contesting political party should be required to nominate at least 30 percent women candidates, as a prerequisite for contestating in the general elections.

The government should also adopt a binding pledge that 50 percent of the upcoming cabinet line-ups will be represented by women ministers. It is unacceptable if the prime minister complains of not having qualified female candidate for the ministerial posts, as even many of the incumbent male ministers lack the ability to become a good minister. Perhaps, female ministers can do better.

But, of course, qualified individuals especially technocrats, should be appointed to lead the ministries.

Conclusion

Improving the rights of the women in Malaysia is not an easy feat, in fact it is not easy even internationally. It is estimated that it may take 118 years or more to close the gender gap, based on the current trajectory. All parties have to play their roles in recognising the rights of women. Campaigns on this subject matter need to be more widely organised and should include males as well.

Feminists need to understand that the struggle is against the system and the culture, thus more coordinated and diplomatic actions need to be employed. Some feminists tend to be ‘man-hating’ and use force in demonstrating for their rights. Some even go bare-breasted in the spirit of ‘protesting’. Now, do you really think the men would feel threatened by that?

To close the gender gap, men have to be part of the initiative. The Asian Development Outlook 2015 Update has estimated that by eliminating gender disparity in developing Asia would increase per capita income by 70 percent within two generations. In particular, for Malaysia, closing the gender gap will enable increase in GDP by 15-20 percent, according to the International Monetary Fund.

The Asian Development Bank found that if intra-female representation in the workforce is increased to 70 percent (which in 2014 was at 53.6 percent - this includes unemployed women actively in search for a job), annual GDP would be 2.9 percent higher in Malaysia.

To the men out there, recognising the rights of the women will create mutual benefits for everyone. Let us all allow women to enjoy the best of their lives and make sure that male chauvinism will not hamper Malaysia's growth.

GANESHWARAN KANA is a final-year economics undergraduate in Universiti Malaya. He blogs at universaltheboss.blogspot.my .