Set up anti-sexual harassment tribunal quickly, says Awam

 

Awam deputy president Ng May Yee says the anti-sexual harassment tribunal is provided for under the Anti-Sexual Harassment Act, passed in Parliament last July.

PETALING JAYA: A women’s NGO has called for funds to be allocated under Budget 2023 to establish the tribunal for anti-sexual harassment and appoint the panel members quickly.

All Women’s Action Society (Awam) deputy president Ng May Yee said the tribunal should follow after the Anti-Sexual Harassment Act gazetted in October last year.

“With this, survivors of sexual harassment can seek redress in a cost-effective, time-efficient manner that protects their privacy,” she told FMT.

The tribunal is provided for under the Anti-Sexual Harassment Act, passed in Parliament last July, as an avenue for victims to file sexual harassment claims.

Ng also urged the government to set aside funds to collect data on the menstruation needs of women and girls to better solve the issues of period poverty.

Under the 2022 budget, the previous government had provided monthly assistance of feminine hygiene kits to an estimated 130,000 teenagers from the B40 group who do not have access to such products because of financial constraints.

“While we commend the government’s sanitary product initiatives in addressing this issue, its effectiveness will be limited unless the initiatives are based on a comprehensive understanding of the menstruation needs of women and girls,” she said.

Meanwhile, former Batu Kawan MP Kasthuri Patto urged the government to allocate more funds to develop programmes to assist women in regaining their economic independence following the Covid-19 pandemic.

She said many women were capable of sustaining themselves before the pandemic, but have now been pushed down from the M40 to the B40 category and require government assistance.

“For example, the Penang Women’s Development Corporation has a programme called Wanita Jana Rezeki where limited funds are given to women who are home-based entrepreneurs and (who) use their premises as workstations to produce goods for sales,” she said.

The corporation also provides other grants, bookkeeping and Internet training to help these women grow their businesses.

Women’s Centre of Change (WCC) service manager Mangleswary Subramaniam said she wants the government to build more shelters for women and their children, particularly in the northern states. In 2017, it was revealed that Penang had only three shelters, all of which were run by NGOs.

Mangleswary said the few NGO-run shelters that exist do not have enough funding to allow them to accept many victims.

“The welfare department would then have to separate the mother and child, placing the women in old folk’s homes, and their children in children’s homes,” she said, adding that this could further traumatise victims.

Budget 2023 will be tabled on Feb 24. - FMT