Women and politics: the contestation for visibility
The history of voting in the West peppered with women’s struggles to achieve a voice in politics. Gender and elections in a democratic system vary according to context. Still, gender equality and equity for women have always required the government’s intervention. The feasible way to empower wom...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
2021
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| Online Access: | http://journalarticle.ukm.my/17341/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/17341/1/42686-161887-1-PB.pdf |
| Summary: | The history of voting in the West peppered with women’s struggles to achieve a voice in politics. Gender and elections
in a democratic system vary according to context. Still, gender equality and equity for women have always required the
government’s intervention. The feasible way to empower women and to ensure gender sensitivity has been to enforce
rules and regulations. Nevertheless, women’s political participation in Malaysia is still low due to power distances
between genders resulting from a patriarchal system. However, we have to look beyond just numbers to assess the
impact of women on politics. This article argues that though the number of female political representatives is low, their
visibility should also be gauged from their behind-the-scenes contribution as party members. This study was drawn
from the election campaign in 2018 using non-participant observation and secondary data to challenge the prevailing
Western approach to gender studies. The findings show that some of the factors mentioned above are not necessarily the
reasons for the sluggish appearance of women’s participation in politics. |
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