Dr Mariah on women, equal opportunity and sex education

Dr Siti Mariah

Dr Siti Mariah Mahmud is member of parliament for Kota Raja, Selangor and an Exco member of PAS's Muslimat Wing. A medical doctor by profession, Dr Mariah has called for a more systematic approach in combating social ills such as drug/alcohol addiction and domestic violence, as well as advocating for gender equality and public awareness of reproductive health. She recently spoke to the Bangkok-based Asian Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development.

How many female Parliamentarians are there in Malaysia?

About 10%. But from my party, it is the first time women parliamentarians were elected. There are three MPs elected for the Islamic Party (PAS.)

You seem to feel very strongly about the issue of gender equality. What are the biggest barriers to the realization of gender equality in Malaysia?

I think basically if you ask people in Malaysia their general perception we are nearly equal. But we still have problems with the implementation because the mindset of many are still within the old framework. They ask what else do women want in Malaysia?

We have equal opportunities in education - and yes nearly 70% of our students in the universities are women, are girls, but when people talk about equality they forgot that we cannot measure equality in terms of equal opportunities for men and women only.

Women should receive the understanding from society and government that for women to achieve, society and government will have to acknowledge that women have more hurdles to overcome.

Women have biologically different functions and hence responsibilities. These differences in certain ways dampen the advancement of women. They may be capable intellectually but family commitments tend to slow them down.

For instance, in post graduate studies, women doctors tend to do their post-grad later and in less demanding fields. As undergraduates, women undergrads tend to perform better, and 7 out of 10 top students would be female. But when they finish their first degree, and when it comes to continuing to the post graduate degree or pursuing their careers, the number of women doctors are much lower than their male colleagues.

There’s always something that holds them back. Most women want to get married, want to bear children and have a family. A woman wants it all just like men. If we do not facilitate them (by having female-friendly policies) to develop their potential, they cannot proceed. .... So I don’t think there is enough of this support system for women, to be able to balance their professional and personal lives, at the same time, to have it all. It is a very difficult for women.

Regarding the issue of violence against women, is that still a big problem in Malaysia?

Oh yes, it is still rampant especially among lower socio-economic communities. But you would be surprised, I have come across cases of wife battering/spouse abuse amongst educated people. It’s not necessarily at the lower economic classes, but at the lower levels, you can see that it’s cruder, you know, they hit their wives, everybody knows about it.

But at the upper levels, people might not know about it, it’s hidden. I’ve come across the case where the battered wife, instead of the husband, had to go for psychiatric counseling because she cannot take the abuse anymore. Every time she has to keep a straight face. However, the awareness is growing and the authorities are more vigilant now.

Undoubtedly, education is very important. Girls have to be told from the beginning that you cannot settle for being beaten. Wife battering is unacceptable for whatever reason. I learnt this early on from my mother. She was outright about this. Although she’s not very highly educated… when I got married at a very young age, she told me do not allow yourself to be maltreated – walk out, the first instance if it happens.

What are the successes and challenges of the Reproductive Health movement in Malaysia?

I think we have made great strides in gender sensitivity. More people are aware about the need for gender equality. However, the implementation is still not as we would like it to be. The mindset is not there yet.

There are a few things that some politicians and parliamentarians are talking about – gender budgeting. They’re just beginning to understand what gender budgeting is. I think because of the word gender, people tend to think, oh this is a woman thing again, a feminist thing, but actually it’s a needs based budgeting. That’s only thing that’s good, once it gets introduced to women leaders, then it gets spread out. Women leaders picked it up, and they are very keen in making changes.

We see that when women make changes, ultimately, the children in the family get it. But if you give it to the men sometimes it doesn’t trickle down the same way. Things like micro-credit, if you give it to the women it gets somewhere.

So I think the only thing is about RH, not many people are aware about the importance of sex and RH education because of the negative connotation of the terminology. What people are afraid of is that sex education is equivalent to overtly liberal sexual values and “moral looseness”.

This is what people equate it with. We have to put it into a more positive way, that sex and reproductive education equals a wholesome population and very positive towards the family life. But what is the right term? It is not just about sex, it’s about gender sensitivity, it’s about how we should respect each other. You talk about responsibilities of parents towards their children. It covers more important issues and not just the sexual act or prevention of pregnancy or sexually transmitted diseases only.

Perhaps we could call it Life Education – I don’t know, finding the right term so as to be acceptable is important so that people will have the right and positive perception.

Do you feel like there are lessons that Malaysia can share with other countries in the region?

I think in terms of education, it is something that we are proud of (although I am from the opposition), the opportunity for education to all ranks of society. Education was free then and Malaysia has affirmative action.

Initially it starts off well, it is to bridge the poverty gap, the economic gap between the races, and it did help a lot, with poor rural Malays to become middle income professionals, so education is the most important thing. However, now education is no longer free and affirmative action was abused to a certain extent.

Do you see a link between poverty and population?

Yes, definitely. The poor tend to have larger family size and can afford only basic education. The only way you get people out of poverty is through education. There is no other way – from number 1 to 2 and 3 – education should always be the priority including education of the adults as well.

Government policies in alleviating the poor by providing capital for businesses or training programs for adults may not be very effective in overcoming poverty. They’re at an age where they are not as trainable anymore, so the only way to get families out of poverty is to ensure their children get good education.

Do you have any specific advice for parliamentarians?

As MPs people think generally we are doing the so-called legislative work, responsible for passing laws in parliament. But MPs have to sit with the grass-root, to actually listen to their problem. Sometimes they have very good suggestions, they are very down to earth.

If you talk to academics they tend to be very theoretical, and that’s why NGOs are good here. They sit with the grassroots and they come up with the plan. If MPs and government civil servants do this then they will really understand what the problems are. We have to sit and listen.

So many of the problems people have at the grassroots is mainly due to weakness in the laws and there is no coordination, because every law is made separately, regarding licenses, small retailers, hawkers. So we find that when there’s no coherence, anything that’s legislated at the parliament, the local council cannot overrule.

So you come up with difficult situations, and you cannot solve the problem, even very simple things. But when you sit down, when they come to you, you ask why is this happening? Some laws were made quite a long time ago and things have changed and they will need to be reviewed.

Courtesy: Asian Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development newsletter, Bangkok