Appoint women on merit, not based on quota, says Rafidah

 

Rafidah Aziz says the rapidly evolving global market does not look at gender but what someone can bring to the table. (Bernama pic)

PETALING JAYA: Women should be appointed to top positions based on merit and not to fulfil the 30% boardroom quota, says former international trade and industry minister Rafidah Aziz.

“I don’t agree with this because women end up becoming quota fillers. I believe in meritocracy. Don’t just hire a woman to fill the quota,” she said in her closing remarks at the Women Economic Forum 2023 here today.

Rafidah said there were plenty of capable women “deserving of the position and on par with men on the board”.

She said the rapidly evolving global market did not look at gender but at “what someone could bring to the table”.

“The marketplace is becoming increasingly gender neutral. So, don’t allow the issue of gender to divert attention and focus from substantive issues of skills, competence and abilities,” she said.

Rafidah also said success and failure in the marketplace were dependent on the person, not their gender.

“As long as you have the will to succeed, you will be able to seek out all avenues to improve performance,” she said.

The 30% quota system was announced by former prime minister Najib Razak who, in 2018, had dubbed the year as Women Empowerment Year, to enable women to flourish in their careers and family lives.

In its 2018 election manifesto, Pakatan Harapan had pledged to ensure at least 30% of policymakers appointed at all levels were women. While some progress had been made, it still fell short of the target - FMT