news analysis

Women in Malaysia generally make the news in two different ways - either as activists for the women's agenda or in their professional, political or business careers. And these two groups of women news makers are usually treated differently.

Those commenting on traditional 'women's issues' are often relegated to the leisure section of the print media or given less air time by the broadcast media. But those quoted as professionals usually get the same coverage as their male counterparts.

The good news is that women are making the news more today - both because the women's agenda is becoming more important and because more women are in senior positions in politics and the private sector.

Let's take a quick look at the women activists first. Marina Mahathir, daughter of premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad, is an HIV/Aids activist with a feisty fortnightly column in the English daily, The Star .

After the September 1998 sacking of former deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim, who was charged with sodomy, some mainstream politicians announced a new anti-homosexual group.

Marina blasted it in her column - and the group was never heard of again.

Discrimination

Generally, however, women's issues and news, wind up in the lifestyle sections. "There is obvious discrimination," says author and women's activist, Zainah Anwar, executive director of Sisters in Islam. "They are never judged by their news value and never considered national issues."

But women in Malaysia, who form 68 percent of undergraduates at tertiary institutions, are becoming more organised and more vocal in their demands. Before the 1999 general elections, for example, they drafted the Women's Agenda for Change and asked politicians from all contesting parties to endorse their demands.

The Women's Candidacy Initiative fielded women's activist Zaitun Kassim on this platform. "Fifty-four percent of the voters are women," Zaitun says. "We're tired of standing on the sidelines, cheering the team but never getting a chance to kick the ball."

And with opposition PAS and the dominant Umno battling for votes, women's demands are getting a hearing.

In the Cabinet, three out of the 29 Ministers are women - including a new Minister for Women's Affairs and Family Development, Shahrizat Abdul Jalil. She's been making the news regularly on a range of women's issues.

In Parliament, five out of 193 MPs are women. One of them is oppositionist, Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, Anwar Ibrahim's wife. She and her eldest daughter, Nurul Izzah, appear to get special treatment from the local media.

Wan Azizah, who had remained in the background when her husband was deputy premier, was suddenly thrust into the limelight after his ouster. Initially, the soft-spoken ophthalmologist was not used to holding press conferences and giving interviews.

She would be surrounded by a phalanx of aides and lawyers who advised her. She would reveal strategies of Keadilan, which she heads - and then ask the journalists not to print them.

Generally, they don't. The local media doesn't criticise her often either: "She's seen as the 'suffering wife',"says Zainah Anwar of Sisters in Islam. "It's 'politically incorrect' to attack her and her daughter."

Exceptional

Now, for the women in the so-called 'non-traditional' positions: These include Malaysia's International Trade and Industry Minister Rafidah Aziz, Bank Negara Governor Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz, Attorney-General Ainum Said, and the head of Umno's new 'Puteri' wing for young women, lawyer and taekwondo 5th Dan holder Azalina Othman Said.

They are all exceptional women who have broken new ground or pushed the boundaries. They are usually seen strictly as professionals.

In Malaysia, women are strongly represented in tertiary education, the legal community (including the Solicitor-General, Heliliah Mohamed Yusof), the medical profession and especially the banking and finance sector.

Besides Zeti and her deputy Latifah Marican at the central bank, RHB Bank boasts Yvonne Chia as CEO, Bank Rakyat is headed by Dr Norraesah Mohamed and women are in senior positions at Maybank, Public Bank, Hong Leong Bank, Perwira Affin Bank, Affin Merchant Bank and numerous securities houses.

"Money is not gender-sensitive," quips Dr Norraesah of Bank Rakyat, who is also a member of the Umno Supreme Council. She and her peers regularly make the news in their professional capacity.

Others, however, have difficulty getting their message across. "We have to fight very hard to get a statement in," says Rita Sim, deputy secretary-general of the Malaysian Chinese Association's (MCA) Women's wing (part of the ruling coalition) who is tasked with media liaison.

Networking

She does have some tips: Most important, of course, is networking. She meets local and international writers and editors regularly and, she says, it has helped the MCA Women's wing achieve a higher media profile.

Next, strategise to create projects which will get recognition. A recent example was the Women's wing's first visit to the People's Action Party's (PAP) Women's wing in Singapore. Reporters from the Malaysian newspapers The New Straits Times , The Star and the Sin Chew Jit Poh accompanied the politicians (at the respective newspapers' expense; other newspapers were invited but didn't send anyone).

Sim was happy with the coverage. The Chinese newspapers carried curtain-raisers, daily reports during the trip and post-mortems. The Star and The New Straits Times ran features after the visit.

But the English-medium newspapers in Singapore hardly covered their visit except for a stop at the National Library, she notes - whereas a previous visit by the Umno Youth wing received daily coverage.

Finally, women who say something startlingly different also make the news. For example, when MP for Petaling Jaya Utara Chew Mei Fun called for compulsory Mandarin classes for former Chinese-medium students attending Malay-medium schools, that hit the headlines.

Scrutiny

When women make the news, is the reporting any different? Most agree that this happens at least part of the time. When Zeti was appointed in May last year, her public affairs advisor Zailah Tun Dr Ismail tells me, many interview requests came in for her views on how it felt to be Malaysia's first woman governor of the central bank.

She turned them down, only accepting interviews in which she was asked to address banking issues as the governor. "It's an insult to the governor to glorify her gender," says Zailah. "She sees herself as a professional who's risen through sheer hard work. She's technically sound, articulate and knows her stuff."

Dr Ng Yen Yen, deputy Culture, Arts and Tourism minister and head of the MCA's Women's wing, is often asked how she balances her political career with her role as a wife and mother. "I take it positively," she says. "I tell them I can do it and I encourage other women to do the same."

Her deputy secretary-general Sim notes that women are often asked why they are single and whether that is due to their sexual preference. "They are scrutinised more and allowed fewer mistakes," she says. "Unless they are trained to deal with the media, some women are afraid to comment."

Puteri Umno's Azalina agrees. "I feel disheartened because a woman is easily discriminated against, for example, if she is not married, if she is divorced or if she is a mother of ten kids. Her personal life always overrides her ability to perform. But no one questions that in a man - whether he is married, single, straight ..."

Marina Mahathir's column on April 25 noted some misconceptions in the foreign media. When she was interviewed by an Australian woman journalist recently, she wrote, "I was startled when she suddenly said, 'You sound like a feminist!' When I replied that yes, I regard myself very much a feminist, she asked, 'But how can that be?'

"Puzzled, I asked what she meant by that and it became clear that she had some stereotypes in her mind about women from Asia, particularly from Muslim countries. To her, a woman from a Muslim country must surely be a repressed and submissive person, constantly oppressed by the men of her country."

Appearance

Some journalists also focus on a women newsmaker's appearance.

Associated Press (AP) reports, for example, that journalists asked Philippine president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo whether she would remove the beauty mark next to her nose and whether she considered herself pretty.

Some newspapers criticized her gray business suit and suggested bright 'traditionally feminine' colors. They published sketches of how she would look with different hairstyles, dresses, jewellery and makeup.

Similarly, after the MCA Women's wing's trip to Singapore, The Star not only mentioned MP Chew's task of setting up a Cupid Club to encourage ethnic Chinese singles to marry - and arrest the declining Chinese population - but also reported how the journalists told Chew that she needed 'repackaging'.

They said she should wear more fashionable clothes, get a modern haircut, trade in her glasses for contact lenses and be 'more feminine' when walking and talking. As far as I know, no journalist has ever given a male MP the same treatment ....

SANTHA OORJITHAM is a former correspondent for Asiaweek . She presented this paper at the News World Asia Forum in Singapore last week.