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Friday, July 25, 2014

HISTORY TO BE MADE SOON: Wan Azizah and women leaders

HISTORY TO BE MADE SOON: Wan Azizah and women leaders
Mohd Hafarizam Harun, the Umno lawyer, attracted public opprobrium, and justly so, when he made an offensive remark which bears no repeating about the suitability of Dr Wan Azizah to be the menteri besar of Selangor. His attempts to explain and contextualise his remarks further revealed his disdain for women as leaders and betrayed his misogynistic attitudes. Often, such misogyny is veiled in the language of religion or tradition so as to give it a veneer of legitimacy. Fortunately, many Malaysians are not buying it.
Of course, it's easy to focus on his overt sexism, which is in itself offensive. Women have made great progress in many countries in breaking down many barriers. Still, we live in a patriarchal world which some define as male-dominated, male-identified and male-centred. In this world, leadership is often seen as a "naturally" male characteristic, even though we all have personal knowledge of male leaders who are feckless and ineffectual.
In a male-dominated world, we make little or no space for women to be leaders. In fact, girls and women generally face systemic barriers that prevent many of them from rising to leadership positions, whether in the corporate or political world. And when they do break that barrier, in a male-centred world, we judge girls and women who become leaders more harshly and hold them to an even higher standard.
In a recent opinion piece by a Dr S.K. Teoh, the author lists many women leaders in Muslim and non-Muslim countries. According to him, it is “interesting to note that all these women leaders had direct family relationships with past leaders of their countries”. He then identifies some of these relationships, mostly as wives and daughters of deceased leaders. He next states that should Dr Wan Azizah, a qualified medical doctor in her own right, becomes menteri besar, she would have achieved that position because of her husband. To be fair, Dr Teoh lists other women leaders who were elected “on their own merit”. These statements need further scrutiny especially since they are suggestive of certain assumptions about the capabilities of these women leaders.
Wan Azizah
In a male-centred society, women leaders have among other things had to contend with questions about whether or not they will be "just as tough as" men when it comes to exercising their leadership. Questioning their merits is part and parcel of the invisible barriers that women leaders continue to face. However, it is disingenuous to question the merits of women leaders who have family legacies in the world of politics, especially when many male leaders are also beneficiaries of such family legacies and connections.
The current prime ministers of Malaysia and Singapore are sons of former prime ministers of their respective countries. The former recent prime minister of Pakistan, Asif Ali Zardari is the husband of the late Benazir Bhutto. The 43rd president of the US, George W. Bush, is the son of the 41st president, George H. Bush. And there are many more well-connected men in politics in Malaysia and abroad who have families in politics. The fact that some women leaders have family legacies in politics speaks more to their privilege, the same unearned privilege that well-connected male leaders have. A word to Dr Wan Azizah's detractors in articulating their opposition to her potential leadership as chief minister of Selangor: be responsible and base your arguments on facts, not on sexist assumptions. –TMI

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