Women leaders inspire the next generation

CALD, in collaboration with SEDAR Institute, organized a public conference with the theme, Future of Leadership: Women Leading for Inclusion and Diversity, last 28 September 2019 in Kuala Lumpur as part of the 10th CALD Communications Workshop for CALD Women’s Caucus.

Women leaders are the key to inspire the next generation of leaders. A recent study by MIT economist Esther Duflo, shows how important female leaders are for the attitudes and ambitions of young women. For this reason, CALD, together with SEDAR Institute, gathered women from different sectors to discuss their experiences and the need to advocate for women empowerment.

The organizing partner, SEDAR Institute, is a non-profit and independent organisation that seeks to develop strategies to build a united, democratic and liberal nation for all Malaysians. Ooi Zhi Yi, the Chief Executive Officer, welcomed everybody to the conference. He said, “We in SEDAR Institute, will be looking forward to play a bigger role not only in this public conference but to play a bigger role in discussing and developing more ideas towards gender equality and gender issues besides today’s conference.”

Since gender inequality remains a major issue in every part of the world, women leaders from Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, and South Africa convened to share their own experiences as female frontrunners in fostering inclusion and diversity.

A panel discussion led by the CALD Women’s Caucus chair, Jayanthi Devi Balaguru, looked into the cases of female politicians, leaders and Muslim women to further discuss the need to empower women and raise awareness on the gender disparity.

Nangamso Kwinana shared her experiences being the coordinator of Africa Liberal Network (ALN), an alliance of liberal democratic political parties and organisations in South Africa. They have launched a women leadership program that aims to give women a platform to lead, advance them in internal political party and public election campaigns, and to promote the adjustment of practice, norms within the member parties of the ALN. “It is not your race that determines if you are a leader or not. It is not your gender that determines if you are leader or not. There are natural abilities that you are born with. Those are the abilities that will allow you to walk, fly, and lead.”

In some parts of the world, there are still people who use religion to justify violence according to Majidah Hashim, a Communications Manager of a 32-year old organization- Sisters of Islam. Until now, Muslim women are still experiencing different injustices from child marriages, rape, sexual harassment, to domestic violence. To protect their sisters in Malaysia, her organization introduced a hotline answered by lawyers with legal advices for all the victims of abuse.

Chompoonute Nakornthap, the first openly gay female politician in Thailand, expressed the struggles of women politicians living in a patriarchal country.  “Gender equality does not exist in Thailand. Thailand is a men’s society.” Her country has one of the poorest grades when it comes to gender equality in politics. According to her, even in the grass root levels, inequality between male and female exists. However, she hopes that one day, the balance between the sexes will eventually come to Thailand and that her people can also participate in conferences like this. “This kind of program is very productive and helpful. I hope that a lot more of the people in Thailand will be able to attend this kind of program where women leaders of everywhere speak about what they actually know.”

The panel discussion was followed by a series of TED-style talks by women who successfully broke down barriers and shatter glass ceilings to make their societies more inclusive and pluralistic. The first speaker, Kajel Kaur, Miss Earth Malaysia 2019, graced the audience with her inspiring stories and testimonies on why women are strong and why they should be respected. “It’s time to recognize women as human beings because women’s rights are human rights.”

Beng Climaco-Salazar, mayor of Zamboanga City, shared her experiences back in 2013 when her city was attacked, and her people were in danger. She recalled the pain she felt when her beloved city was in chaos, and how the both of them became resilient.

CALD Youth Chair, Siripa Intavichein, gave the audience the statistics of the gender inequality status that the women of Thailand face on a daily basis. She also briefly explained the gender gap. It will take a total of 107 years to close the said gap.

Angelin Boo, a principle lead trainer, discussed the gap in the corporate world. With a different perspective, she was able to state the ratio of men and women and the potential gender differences. There was a visible gender bias program and approaches between the sexes.

Today, women need to be heard. Women should inspire other women. Programs like this play a crucial role in raising awareness on the issues of women.

Janice Wong Oi Foon, Wanita Chief of Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia, believes that with a little confidence and a little help, women can do anything. “I hope that the CALD Women’s Caucus could continue working on our objective and goes to train and develop more women to stand on the political frontline.”