Resident Coordinator's speech:International Women's Day Forum 2023: Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment in Malaysia Madani

YB Dato Sri Azalina Othman Said, Minister for Law Reforms & Institutional Governance

YB Fahmi Fadzil, Minister of Communications and Digital

YBhg. Prof. Emerita Tan Sri Dato’ Seri Dr. Sharifah Hapsah Syed Hasan Shahabudin – President of the National Council of Women’s Organizations (NCWO)

Excellencies, Colleagues, friends, ladies and gentlemen

Good morning,

Selamat Pagi,

On behalf of the United Nations in Malaysia, I would like to sincerely thank you for joining us to mark this special day. I am very happy to see so many of you here, coming together to celebrate women and raise your voice in support of justice, gender equality and women’s rights.

I would like to extend my most sincere appreciation to the National Council of Women’s Organizations; to you Tan Sri Sharifah, for mobilizing your teams and networks to make this forum possible.

I also thank my colleagues in the United Nations Country Team, for their invaluable contributions.

Before I say a few words, please allow me to virtually invite the United Nations Secretary-General to deliver a brief message marking the International Women’s Day.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

We are gathered here today to celebrate the achievements of millions of women in Malaysia and in every corner of the globe, to honour their individual stories, successes, and strong determination to break the barriers that have hampered their progress towards equality and justice.

From the earliest pages of human history to today’s world, patriarchy, discrimination and harmful stereotypes and behaviours have limited women’s agency and potential.

Gender equality and women’s empowerment is about deconstructing those concepts and beliefs that have held women back. It’s about addressing all forms of discrimination and injustice and redressing existing and historical inequalities.

As we have just heard from SG Antonio Guterres, we face a sad reality: a backslide in women’s rights and the hard-won progress achieved over decades, centuries, of struggle.

And this is not happening only in in places where women and girls have been expunged from public life.

In many countries, women still do not have autonomy over their own bodies; over land and property that guarantee their livelihood and food security.

Child marriage is a flagrant human rights violation, which holds back economic and social progress.

We aspire to achieve the SDGs by 2030; but the data tell us that by 2030, up to 110 million girls are likely to become child brides. The data also tell us that gender equality is 300 years away.

Various forms of discrimination against women, which CEDAW pledged to eliminate more than forty years ago, continue to undermine women.

Despite great education attainment, progress in women’s access to leadership positions, in both the political and economic spheres, remains sluggish as women continue to be excluded and under-represented in all aspects of decision-making.

As I was preparing for today’s event and my message to you, I looked at a few reports on the status of women in the 60s and 70s. Fascinating, ground-breaking discourse and action; women making history and asserting their independence.

I also looked at yesterday’s headlines, the press covering the Commission on the Status of Women, which opened on Monday in the UN Headquarters in New York:

UN’s commission on women opens amid vanishing progress on rights

Hobbled by persistent inequalities, about 383 million women and girls live in extreme poverty, and every 11 minutes, a woman or girl is killed by someone in her own family

Maternal mortality is increasing. One woman dies every two minutes during pregnancy or childbirth

These are headlines we are reading in March 2023. Hard to believe, painful, infuriating, and as awkward as it may sound, reenergizing.

Because we cannot let these trends define women’s trajectory. Reversing them must be our collective mission.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Today’s forum is a space to reflect on what it will take to move forward and achieve tangible and sustainable progress towards gender equality in Malaysia.

The two panels were crafted to engage in a conversation on the role of women in advancing Malaysia Madani as a project of society, a framework for a viable, dynamic and inclusive Malaysia future, to quote the Honorable Prime Minister.

Achieving gender equality and progress requires an enabling, empowering environment, legislation and institutions which seriously address long-standing injustices and uphold the very principles of Malaysia Madani: Sustainability, Care and Compassion, Respect, Innovation, Prosperity and Trust, as the foundations of a thriving society where all people live in dignity.

We are witnessing promising steps and we need bolder policies. Women in Malaysia deserve an empowering environment to thrive.

Zooming in on the theme of this year’s International Women’s Day, “DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality”, we will hear from our panelists on the gender gaps in technology and innovation and explore how digital inclusion is not an add-on, but lies at the very core of women’s empowerment and full participation in the economy, in politics, in society. In promoting peace and protecting the environment.

Achieving the SDGs in Malaysia, and boosting progress on SDG5 on Gender Equality will require a transformative approach, a fundamental shift and serious investment in bridging the digital gender divide, by making science and technology accessible, inclusive, and safe.

Over two decades ago, I was working in the Middle East and North Africa region on women’s rights, seizing rare openings and opportunities to move the needle on political participation, by supporting civil society, women’s organizations, and the very few women who got elected or appointed in national assemblies.

It would take my team several months to organize one physical meeting of women politicians from across the region. They would share knowledge and experiences and discuss quota systems and citizenship rights campaigns in male dominated politics.

Today, such conferences are still needed because the road to equality is long and bumpy, but technology has transformed activism, networking and coalition building, and saves us time, because gender equality cannot afford further delays.

Thank you.