A women's groups coalition will be monitoring parliamentary sessions to put a stop to gender discrimination against women members of parliament.

The Women's Agenda for Change (WAC) said this is a concerted effort to address the problem of disrespect and gender insensitivity towards women parliamentarians.

"We will monitor the kind of language that is used in the parliament. (The use of) lewd and derogatory remarks must be stopped," said spokesperson Ivy Josiah during a press conference at the Sisters in Islam (SIS) office this morning.

"Often, the [MPs] may think that the lewd comments are funny or witty but we are saying that they are not acceptable anymore," Josiah said.

WAC is the organised effort of several groups including Women's Development Collective, SIS, All Women's Action Society (Awam), Wanita Jamaah Islah Malaysia, Women's Aid Organisation, Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall and Malaysian Metal Industries Employees' Union.

Josiah said the WAC will be sending letters to all MPs to request for assistance in gathering information on instances of gender discrimination during parliamentary sittings.

"We are certain that there are also gender-sensitive male MPs. We would like co-operation from them as well," she said.

The group will also be looking through the Hansards of previous parliamentary sittings to gather information on past examples of discriminatory remarks.

The monitoring will start from the next parliamentary session in March and WAC will be publishing a report at the end of the year.

"The report will document instances of gender discrimination under various categories, including the use of lewd language, treatment of gender-related issues, and the treatment of women MPs," said SIS executive director Zainah Anwar.

Attend courses

Josiah also urged parliamentarians in need of gender-sensitisation courses to attend those offered by women's groups.

"MPs from both the ruling and opposition parties have displayed gender insensitivity and poor knowledge of issues affecting women. The WAC is concerned if MPs can truly represent the women's constituency if they persist in this fashion," the organisation said in its press statement.

WAC also intends to address other problems including the lack of knowledge on gender issues.

It said the problem has led to some MPs dismissing women MPs as being "too emotional" when the latter seeks for amendments to laws that discriminate against women such as the Immigrations Act 1963 and the Income Tax Act.

"We hope that all MPs will do some reading on these issues as they should concern everyone and not just women MPs," said Zainah.

Unfair suspension of MP

Earlier, WAC expressed its disappointment with the "harsh punishment" meted out to MP Fong Po Kuan Kuan on Dec 11 for criticising Dewan Rakyat Speaker Mohamed Zahir Ismail.

Fong was suspended for six months without pay for issuing a press statement saying that the speaker had 'abused' his powers in rejecting her motion to debate a marks tampering scandal in the Certificate in Legal Profession examination.

She was also censured by her older colleagues, one of them a woman, for allegedly "bringing down the dignity of the House".

"The suspension is both undemocratic and unfair," said the WAC.

"This is not an isolated case but is one of the many instances reflecting an entrenched culture of gender discrimination and sexism within parliament," added Josiah.

Josiah asserted that as an elected representative of the people, Fong should be treated as an equal of other MPs and should not have to face condescending and patronising remarks by her peers.

She conceded that the action taken against Fong was partly due to her position as an opposition MP, but said that other women MPs from the ruling coalition had also been subjected to harassment and discrimination.