MALAYSIA RECOGNISES WOMEN`S ROLES, SAYS PM'S WIFE ROSMAH

By Zakaria Abdul Wahab

SINGAPORE, Dec 15 (Bernama) -– Malaysian women have been brought up well and
given the rightful place in society because the government strategically planned
their progress in a commendable and structured manner, said Rosmah
Mansor.

“Malaysian women are where we are today because our Government never lost
sight of the importance of women,” the wife of the Malaysian prime minister told
an international forum here Tuesday.

She said the Malaysian Government constantly endeavoured to provide an
enabling environment through reforming its mechanisms and reviewing its laws,
policies and regulations to address any gender disparity and inequality.

Speaking to about 200 women from the region at the forum, Rosmah, in her
keynote address titled 'Women Leadership in a New Era', said the Malaysian
Government always listened to the voice of women when it designed these plans.

She was sharing the Malaysian women experience in leadership roles at the
Third Asean Women Leaders Forum themed 'Expanding Possibilities, Scaling New
Heights'.

The forum is organised by the Asian Strategy and Leadership Institute and
Asean
Business Forum.

Also present at the one-day forum was the Singapore prime minister's wife,
Ho Ching, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office Lim Hwee Hua and
Malaysian Women, Family and Community Development Minister Shahrizat
Jalil.

Rosmah said the Malaysian Government had taken various measures to create a
supportive and stimulating environment for the advancement of women through the
formulation and implementation of pro-women policies and programmes.

She said Malaysian women had always played a critical role in both the
political movement which brought the country's independence and subsequently,
growth and development of the nation.

Citing that women made up nearly half of the 28.3 million population in
Malaysia, Rosmah said the fairer sex was indeed, an important component of the
nation's human capital and they could not be ignored.

She said, women everywhere had long been a strong influence and playing
active and leading roles in the community.

Now, they had taken leadership roles globally, including the more
conservative
region of Southeast Asia.

She named several luminaries such as Corazon C. Aquino and Gloria Macapagal
Arroyo, who became presidents of the Philippines; former Indonesian president
Megawati Sukarnoputri; and Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi who
continues to lead a popular pro-democracy movement in Myanmar.

Rosmah noted that many factors might have contributed to this achievement
but she believed that access and opportunities to education were the most
significant elements which catapulted women to the fore.

She said education led to intellectual growth, skills development and
confidence enhancement, to enable women to go well beyond the boundaries that
limit them in their traditional roles, and also a route for their economic
empowerment and social advancement.

Rosmah also cited a study which identified several qualities of leadership
in women which demonstrated that they were better than men as managers, and
could bring any business entity to profitability.

She quipped that many observers now had begun to wonder whether “the world
would have been in the global financial crisis, if there were more women who are
prudent in financial management on corporate boards and the top echelons of
power, be it financial institutions, corporations or public offices.”

However, Rosmah said that women, especially those who aspired to become
leaders in this globalisation era, should master the information and
communication technology as the emphasis now had changed from knowledge society
to innovation economy.

–- BERNAMA