A DAP youth leader has slammed Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia (Isma) for suggesting women stay at home and let the men lead the workforce.

DAP Youth Bukit Bendera secretary Syerleena Abdul Rashid said with Isma's "conservative outlook", Malaysia will never reach developed nation status.

She was responding to Johor Isma Women and Community Bureau Chief Nur Farrah Nadia Najib's posting on Wanita Isma's website that said, "A high income nation must not rely on women as the major contributor but men should lead the workforce and put their biggest effort in shaping the nation."

The article, said Syerleena ( left ), was "extremely pessimistic and frustrates women's efforts to claim equality".

"Based on what the conservative Islamist group Isma says, Malaysia will never achieve the status of a developed and high income nation, as long as issues like gender stereotypes, especially from the economic viewpoint and human rights, cannot be overcome but left to continue," she added.

She said the perception that only men were responsible for earning a living along with the assumption that the role of women is limited to caring for children, was not relevant in today’s context and that it is also considered a form of discrimination against women.

Syerleena, who is also Bukit Bendera Wanita DAP's political education director, said women's rights at the workplace was being championed by groups nationwide, and deserved full support from every layer of society.

Nur Farrah's article criticised a UN report that Malaysian youth are marrying too young, expressing her disagreement.

Necessary recognition for women

"Our male counterparts actively involved in workforce and being high achievers.

"Our females need to be highly educated in various skills to bring up healthy, successful girls and boys and must contribute to the community in a way that best suites them," Nur Farrah had written.

Meanwhile, Syerleena said the government should also take pro-active steps in ensuring that women are given the necessary recognition.

“Providing more job opportunities (to women) to be on equal standing with men does not mean that it will negatively affect men’s status quo. The presence of more women in both the public and private sectors will benefit the country,” she stressed.

Commenting on Nur Farrah’s statement on how the contribution of women in Japan’s workforce was only about 40 percent, Syerleena quipped that Nur Farrah should understand the country’s culture first.

“Japan is a very conservative society and it practices the patriarchal system. Gender role is still prominent and this has limited the freedom, mobility and rights of Japanese women.

“These factors may have led to the low participation of women in Japan’s workforce,” she noted.