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FEMININE TOUCH: With more than 50 percent  female voters and a 40 percent increase in the number women who contested in the election. women still make up about only 10 percent of the winning candidates.   With just two ministers and five deputy ministers in the new cabinet lined-up, political analysts, academicians and non-governmental organizations lament the still low political participation of women, writes Audrey Vijaindreh.

A total of 168 women contested in  the 13th General Election, however, most of them did not win.

Universiti Sains Malaysia School of Social Sciences associate professor Dr Sivamurugan Pandian said this was so even though almost 51 per cent of voters in the country were women.

“A couple of factors could have contributed to the dismal representation, including women candidates facing each other in non-winnable constituencies, as well as independent female candidates without strong party backing to win support from voters.”

Although there were a number of women representatives elected, more are needed because issues relating to women are best advocated by women themselves, Sivamurugan said.

“Increased women representation is necessary to empower and protect their rights, especially on issues directly relating to them.

“When there’s deficit representation, many issues may not be addressed directly because of the lack of support within the Parliament framework.

“Some may also argue that certain issues are irrelevant to debate on when women’s representation is minimal.

“In fact, this may also open the door to gender biases and sexist statements by irresponsible members of parliament.

KENINGAU: Cases of abuse involving mainly women and children are on the rise in Malaysia, according to State Deputy Health Director, Dr. Zuraidah Ahmad Babji.

“The increase is becoming more serious and the participation of various quarters including government agencies and the private sector is needed to tackle the problem,” she said.

She said the abused victims often suffered physical and mental harm as well as the economic impacts.

“For those with families, the impact of abuse and domestic violence is not only affecting the basis of the family formation but also every member of the family for having to deal with the stigma of society,” she said when opening the 4th Sabah Emergency Symposium at the Sabah Handicraft Centre here yesterday.

Dr Zuraidah, who represented the State Health Director Dr. Christina Rundi at the function, also said the establishment of the One Stop Crisis Centre (OSCC) at public hospitals is to ensure that abused victims are provided with physical and psychological help as well as protection.

To date, more than 100 OSCCs have been established throughout the country including one at the Keningau hospital, she said.

Dr Zuraidah hoped the symposium would enhance the knowledge and skills of the participants on the aspects of prevention, treatment and services for abused victims.

Read more @ http://www.newsabahtimes.com.my/nstweb/fullstory/68543

Focus on figures: A Mathematics class in session in an all-boys class. – AFP

China has initiated ‘boys only’ classes to address the learning outcomes of its male students.

TEENAGE boys in a Shanghai school in China, are in the frontline of teaching reform after its education system introduced male-only classes after mounting concerns that they were lagging behind the girls.

Rows of boys in white shirts are put through their paces as they are called up individually to complete a chemical formula by teacher Shen Huimin, who hopes that a switch to male-only classes will help them overcome their reticence.

“We give boys a chance to change,” she said.

The Shanghai school system came out tops in the the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development’s (OECD) worldwide assessment tests of 15-year-olds ahead of other nations like Singapore, Japan and Hong Kong in the region.

But even with the shift towards single sex classes which aims to boost boys’ confidence, officials are concerned that some male students in an all-boys’ school may be slower than their female counterparts in development and certain academic areas, such as language.

A prominent Chinese educator, Sun Yunxiao, found that the proportion of boys who were among the top scholars in the country’s gaokao university entrance exams, plunged from 66.2% to 39.7% between 1999 and 2008.

by Bill Savadove.

Read more @ http://thestar.com.my/education/story.asp?file=/2013/4/14/education/12949436&sec=education

The injustices against women and girls are aplenty and the challenge lies in changing mindsets about their place and role in society.

I THINK we should have a law,” said a teacher to a room full of her peers.

“I think all these social problems are happening because of the ‘deviant culture’, brought in from foreign countries, that is influencing our teenagers.

“Plus, children today are making use of the fact that their parents are not at home because they are too busy working … so we should have a curfew for teenagers. If they are at home, then they will not get into trouble.”

This was the first audience comment during the question and answer portion of the “Violence Against Girls” seminar held last month.

Organised by the National Union of the Teaching Profession (NUTP), the seminar was part of the organisation’s on-going series held in conjunction with International Women’s Day every year.

As the teacher above spoke, the all-female audience of around 60 teachers broke into hushed and indignant voices of disapproval.

“The Prime Minister has abolished the Emergency Ordinance, and she wants to bring in a new one,” smirked a teacher in the audience.

“The biggest problem our children face right now is having people like her who refuse to look at facts — they want to blame everything except their own backward mindset.”

While past seminars have usually dealt with relatively milder issues, NUTP secretary-general Lok Yim Pheng said that recent events inspired this year’s theme.

Despite the progress that women have made, the headlines of the past year seem to catalogue how much more needs to be done.

High profile incidents, such as the attempted assassination of 15-year-old Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai and the brutal gang-rape and murder of 23-year-old Indian student Jyoti Singh, offer just a glimpse of the level of violence many women and girls still face around the world.

“The rights of women is still the unfinished business of the 21st century,” said United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) representative to Malaysia Wivina Belmonte, the first speaker at the seminar.

“It is estimated that up to seven in 10 women will be beaten, raped, abused or mutilated in their lifetimes.

“Worldwide, the two most dangerous places for a child today is the home and school.”

by Priya Kulasagaran.

Read more @ http://thestar.com.my/education/story.asp?file=/2013/4/7/education/12925436&sec=education

The 13th General Election is a good time to redress the gender imbalance.

WITH just three days to go before a date is set for nomination day and the general election, all eyes are peeled for party and coalition candidates’ lists. Attention will no doubt be focused on whether candidates are credible, winnable, and fresh. One criterion, however, risks being overlooked: gender representation. Will the candidates’ lists on both competing sides have a sizeable, if not close to equal, amount of women as that of men?

Although the government has committed itself to ensuring that women hold at least 30 per cent of decision-making positions in the public and private sectors by 2016, the smallest and poorest representation of women has remained in Parliament. In the 2008 election, out of 479 people contesting for 222 parliamentary seats, only 43 were women — 20 from Barisan Nasional, 21 from opposition parties, and two independents. They made up just 8.98 per cent of the total. And one was an 89-year-old bicycling granny. Yet, most impressively, of the 43 women who contested, 23 won their seats and went on to Parliament — 12 from BN and 11 from the opposition. The women had a success rate of 53.48 per cent, compared with the 44.26 per cent success rate of the men. This raised the number of women in Parliament to the highest it had ever been in Malaysian history. But even then, they only made up 10.36 per cent of lawmakers in the Dewan Rakyat.

Why are there so few women election candidates? Are there so few women involved in politics? Do they think it is a man’s domain? Do women politicians not run unless they are confident of winning? Are only strong female contenders chosen, and is the same standard applied to their male counterparts?

With the general election coming up, women’s groups will be scrutinising political manifestos on issues of equality and justice for Malaysian women.

IT’S that time of the year when we, women’s rights activists in Malaysia, sigh again as we celebrate International Women’s Day on March 8.

Malaysia’s third report to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), due in August 2004, has not been submitted. Neither has its fourth report due in August 2008.

It’s 2013 (and the fifth report due soon) and there is still no news on when the government is going to submit these overdue periodic reports on the status of women in Malaysia and its compliance with its treaty obligations under the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women.

In the meantime, the NGOs have given up on waiting for the government and have prepared their own alternative report to assess the government’s progress under CEDAW. It has been submitted to several ministries and departments dealing with women, law, labour, health, education, and rural development; only one has bothered to acknowledge receipt.

Six years have passed since Malay­sia’s combined first and second report was heard before the CEDAW Committee in 2006. The Committee issued several important recommendations in its Concluding Comments to the government on steps to be taken to fulfil its obligations under the Convention.

Until today, almost all the recommendations just remain words on paper.

by Zainah Anwar.

Read more @ http://thestar.com.my/columnists/story.asp?col=sharingthenation&file=/2013/3/3/columnists/sharingthenation/12781026&sec=Sharing%20The%20Nation

KUALA LUMPUR: A significant number of women have broken traditional barrier by holding positions that were once dominated by men.

There has been a huge increase in the number of female graduates and those who are holding decision- making positions in the nation’s corporate sector.

Some have even ventured into male domain by taking up jobs such as taxi and bus drivers and technical experts.

For Mun Li Ping, S. Niroshini and Kathleen Chew, being in a field predominantly filled by men, has not deterred them from soldiering on.

The three are pursuing their diplomas in Automotive Technology at The Otomotif College.

With a determination to make it in the automotive industry, Mun, Niroshini and Chew said they had never felt out of place having to compete with their male coursemates.

Mun said: “I have been exposed to cars at a young age.

“My mother and brother have jobs in the automotive industry and naturally, I became attached to cars too.”

The 19-year-old, who harbours an ambition to become head of the services division of a car manufacturing company one day, hopes to bring changes to the industry.

“This is not a male-dominated industry any more… women can do the job, too.”

IMBALANCE: Better vocational programmes to narrow gender gap.

GENDER imbalance in school if left unchecked, runs the risk of creating a community of educationally-marginalised young Malaysian men. To to control this worrying trend, the ministry has embarked on a mission to implement better vocational programmes from 2016.

Other measures included greater parental involvement, enrolment drives and enhanced practicum in vocational programmes via greater private sector collaboration.

Currently, the ministry, in its Malaysia Education Blueprint preliminary report, revealed that as the schooling years progressed, the number of male students had dipped below the balanced ratio of students.

The ratio was still fairly balanced during primary school years, but the ratio steadily declined during secondary school years.

It was a similar situation on enrolment in lower tertiary institutions as last year, there were 56 per cent of female students learning in universities, polytechnics and community colleges nationwide.

After conducting interviews with parents, teachers and principals from various schools, it was suggested that some boys struggled with the mainstream academic curriculum.

Also, it was suggested that male students could probably benefit from greater access to vocational training or more applied coursework.

However, the limited number of places in vocational and technical schools prevents this from occurring.

Another reason was the fact that boys from lower income groups were more likely to drop out from school to start work early in order to help support their families.

Hence, the ministry will emphasise on compulsory schooling years, namely to the end of Form Five and parent participation through toolkits that provided them with methods on supporting their children’s education.

Additionally, the ministry will also roll-out two new vocational educational reforms which were basic vocational studies for lower secondary students and the transformation of vocational schools into vocational colleges.

Read more @ http://www.nst.com.my/nation/general/tackling-problem-of-lost-boys-in-education-system-1.142972

While women teachers are known to multitask in motherly, mentoring ways, there are some things only a man can do, and that’s what makes male teachers extra special.

I SOMETIMES think we don’t give our men teachers enough credit. Just because they are outnumbered by women in schools, it does not mean they should be overlooked or forgotten. They matter.

In many ways, men do as much as women do for kids at school, perhaps more.

On a recent visit to an international school in Jakarta, I watched a male teacher speak in a normal tone to a large group of seven-year-olds who were attentive and obedient.

He simply said to them at the cafeteria: “Now, if you will kindly place your knees below the table and sit up straight, I shall release you for play.”

“Clap your hands twice if you are ready to leave,” he said. They did and he allowed them to go out. As simple as that.

I did not meet the man or speak to him but he commanded my respect. He reminded me of some of the male teachers I had when I was at school.

In particular, I remember Mr Kanajan, who taught me Additional Mathematics when I was in Form Four.

Every so often, with a pleading glance at us that begged our understanding, he would step outside the class to have a smoke.

The year was 1976. We knew our male teachers smoked and did it openly. Did we care? Honestly speaking, I don’t think so.

Mr Kanajan did not apologise for being the man that he was.

One day in class, he said: “Humour me, please,” and wrote on the blackboard, in cursive writing, Robert Frost’s poem The Road Not Taken.

He was looking at me when he asked the whole class: “Tell me, what do these words mean to you?”

I don’t know how many of my classmates from Raja Perempuan School Ipoh will read this or remember that day. But I was there, and I do. In his own way, he made a difference; to me, anyway.

In his class, you could love words as much as figures.

I have read many a good book on Maths and many a good poem since then. I agree with him; with the patterns inherent in them, Maths and poetry are both beautiful.

It is the Indians who gave us the zero and it is a fact that a binary code underscores the computer. Ones and zeroes — alone, or together, they both make sense. That’s how it should be at schools; we need an even mix of men and women.

When the ratio is skewed, as it is today in our schools, you will understand what a miffed male teacher once said to me:

“You women always want your cake and eat it too. You play us out. One day, you want us to be chivalrous gentlemen, or be the shoulder you need to cry on. The next, you give us all the dirty jobs, with placating smiles.

“You want equal promotion but, somehow, when it comes to the rough stuff — the sports, the sweaty work, inventory checking, restocking supplies, the furniture and security issues — we are the perfect candidates. When are you going to stop walking all over us?”

by Nithya Sidhhu.

Read more @ http://thestar.com.my/education/story.asp?file=/2012/6/17/education/11457726&sec=education