Malaysia still has room for improvement in the fight for gender quality and women’s empowerment even though the nation has had notable progress in achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Marcela Suazo, UNFPA Representative for Malaysia and Thailand, stated that stereotypes must be disrupted in the country order to pave the way for gender equality. Women and men having equal ground will be able to catapult the nation into a higher standing of development. Suazo brought up the gender pay gap between women and men to highlight forms of discrimination that hinder progress towards gender equality.
“We need to think on how to empower women and girls to unlock their full potential as full participants and contributors to economies, social life, family and community,” stated Suazo in the Malaysia SDG Summit 2019.
Though gender equality and women empower is the 5th goal of Malaysia’s SDG, there is still a huge discrepancy in representation for women in areas such as politics and economics of the country. It will be a great loss for the nation if the government does not take advantage of Malaysia’s Shared Prosperity Vision 2030.
Datuk Nicol Ann David, Malaysia’s pride and leading Squash legend, shared that she was fortunate enough to face little discrimination as a woman in the world of sports. She highlighted the issues around gender and the disparity between female and male athletes outside of the country.
“As a world champion in squash and representing women in sports, I feel that it’s my responsibility to push these kinds of issues in the industry because women deserve the utmost best among the men as well.
“Right now we have a professional association which includes both men and women in one body and have given out equal prize money in about ten tournaments, so I’m really proud to be a part of that,” she said.
The topic of gender equality being present in the summit shines a positive light on our future knowing that the conversation will continue until change can be made.
