Women's participation in sports may have been held back by the idea that men are better in this field, but Youth and Sports Minister Azalina Othman Said is keen to see a change in mindset.

"There is the mentality that a male coach is better than a female one. It is time that women are empowered to show their worth in sports," Azalina said at a press conference yesterday on the All Women's Action Society (Awam) motor charity treasure hunt.

"Women should take the trouble to be active and prove that they too can make a name in this field. It is incorrect to assume that sports is a difficult arena for women to venture into and that only men can do well."

Azalina, who is patron of the Awam event, conceded that making sports part of the Malaysian culture is not a simple task.

"One reason is that certain sports are not accessible - another is that they are not affordable. While the government does its bit to assist, we need outside support to raise awareness on the importance of making sports part of our lifestyle," she said.

"Organisations can help by including sports in their programmes. I would like to see more charity events (involving) sports."

Applauding Awam's efforts in this respect, Azalina said it was good to see sports being used as a vehicle to raise awareness on social issues like gender violence.

"There are many ways to create awareness on an issue and I am glad that sports has been used as one avenue," she said.

'But there are two questions that need to be addressed before we can see more women participating. One, are women willing to go out and make that difference? Two, are corporations willing to support sports which have female participation? Women must be given equal right to participate in sports."

Assistance 'less prompt'

During the press conference, Awam received RM5,000 from Masterplan Consultancy Sdn Bhd, Nestle Products Sdn Bhd and Alda Sdn Bhd respectively.

However, Awam president Judith Koh-Loh said it has been difficult soliciting funds from corporations for such events.

"Somehow because it is a women's event, the financial assistance is not as prompt as it would be if the issue concerns children or senior citizens," she said.

She said the theme 'Break The Clues, Break The Silence' symbolises the public attitude towards issues like gender violence.

"People still want to think that gender violence is a private affair and therefore they have no business getting involved. This is not true," she pointed out.

The charity treasure hunt, being held for the third consecutive year, will take place on July 2. For the first time, it will accept participants from outside the Klang Valley.

This year's route will cover Kuala Lumpur and Malacca, where participants will have an opportunity to learn more about gender violence from survivors themselves.