Several women's groups have taken to task newly-appointed Women's Affairs Minister Shahrizat Abdul Jalil for her reference to the reinforcement of women's basic and traditional functions as one of the priorities her new ministry will look into.

The All Women's Action Society (Awam) president Dr Mary Suma Cardosa said today that Shahrizat's statement was against women's struggle towards ending discrimination between the sexes.

Shahrizat was quoted in The Star today as saying that one of the three grey areas that she would be looking into was to reinforce women's basic and traditional functions like cooking and caring for the household.

Cardosa said in a press statement, "We wish to point out that women, by entering into the job market, have taken on an additional burden. Despite contributing to the household income, we women still assume responsibilities at home."

She added that as women take on more roles outside the home, likewise men should take on roles inside the home.

"This role should be gender neutral. The double burden of women has existed always and still exists today," Cardosa said, adding that she did not see a need to reinforce women's traditional functions.

Conflicting statement

Shahrizat was also criticised by the Women's Aid Organisation (WAO), which said that her statement was conflicting.

Its executive secretary Ivy Josiah said that while on one hand Shahrizat "wants to mainstream women's issues and bring women to the fore, she also plans to remind women of their traditional functions".

"To reinforce traditional roles for women is a step backwards as it implies that a woman's primary role is to cook and clean even as they pursue careers and interests outside of the home," she said.

Josiah added that the new ministry should be looking into eliminating discrimination by breaking stereotypes and freeing women from their traditional roles to take their rightful place in the mainstream.

Crux of women's oppression

Meanwhile, the Women's Agenda for Change (WAC), a coalition of non-governmental organisations, stressed that these traditional functions have been the crux of women's oppression.

WAC organising committee coordinator Maria Chin Abdullah said in a press statement that Shahrizat should re-set her priorities and take action to meet the demands of the "new" women in Malaysia.

"While recognition is given to women in terms of their work in the household, we would like to question the role of the men which seems to be silent in her tasks for the ministry," Maria said.

Maria, however, said that by emphasising women's traditional roles and yet saying that women have moved into the new millennium, Shahrizat had ignored the fact that women have been playing multiple roles for centuries and were now ready for change, that is, to have a new partnership with men, based on women's terms.

Maria also said that women's organisations have already had several discussions with Shahrizat and presented their concerns and recommendations.

"One such effort has been the drawing up of the Women's Agenda for Change and its subsequent 30 do-able actions.

"We would like the minister to begin from these plans rather than going back to an earlier stage of trying to understand the issues," she said, adding that Shahrizat has yet to respond to the recommendations though she was reported to have said that her first task in the new portfolio would be to get as much feedback from women-based NGOs.

WAC is a lobby group which calls for gender-equality and the eradication of discriminatory laws against women.

Its main priority issues include increasing women's representation in parliament and state assemblies by ensuring a 30 percent quota for women at all decision-making levels of the government, public services and elected representatives.