feature The prime motivation for women wanting to involve themselves in the rigours of politics is to advance women's issues. According to Lai Suat Yan, administrator of the Gender Studies Department in Universiti Malaya, women want to advance their rights within the framework of a just and democratic governance for everyone, irrespective of their ethnicity, religion, class or gender.

Even in modern times there is a cultural bias against women taking power. Lai says that in light of this, a woman politician generally has a tougher time as she has to prove doubly hard that she is capable. In addition, she also has to prove that she is a good wife and mother.

But there is an urgent need for women to be involved in politics. With the involvement of more, there would be more gender-sensitive policies, laws and services being put into place.

There has been a worldwide call among women's organisations to ensure that there is a 30 percent representation of women parliamentarians. This critical mass will enable women to get support and to function effectively.

However, Lai warns that one needs to ensure that these women have the gender perspective, otherwise things would remain the same for women.

"Some of the obvious hassles women politicians face are attacks on their capability. Women have to break through the male bonding network in the political system. Even simple things like their dress may be turned into an issue," she said.

Despite 50 percent of the population and voters being women, this group only makes up to about 10 percent of the total number of candidates in an election. Lai says this is due to the patriarchal society that we live in, that favours men to be leaders as women are deemed to be too emotional to be effective.

"Given the mindset that favours men, the male-dominated party leadership would tend to nominate men as candidates in elections, even if there is a pool of capable women leaders to choose from," she said.

Equal power

In view of this, a campaign called 50/50 by 2005: Get the balance right! was launched by the US-based Women's Environment and Development Organisation (Wedo).

The campaign asks the world to share equal power with women and that decision-making positions in all levels of government are equally represented by both sexes by 2005.

Asia has much to be proud of in this respect as many women, despite being widows of assassinated leaders and wives or daughters of traditional politicians, are visible in high-level politics.

Wedo is also calling for a quota system to be put in place where laws require a minimum percentage of women in national and local legislative bodies.

However, detractors of the system are saying that this is unconstitutional as it encourages reverse-subordination with men as the victims this time.

Critics say that elected positions should be open to those best qualified and not gender-biased. If it were the latter choice, women would be seen as mere fillers.

Yet others are adamant that the problem women face is not that they are incapable, but that they are not visible in politics.

What is definite is that politics can only be transformed according to the interests of sectors that shape them. And women are the best to articulate women's issues because they are the primary stakeholders.

PRASANA CHANDRAN is a researcher of Strategic Analysis Malaysia (SAM). She is a journalism graduate from Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand. SAM's subscription-based website has more information, facts and figures, dossiers and analyses of women in Malaysian politics.