LONDON — “Do you think that Malaysia will ever have a female prime minister,” I recently asked a group of women civil servants working in the Islamic affairs departments of various Malaysian state governments. They were attending, with some male colleagues, a 3-month course in London aimed at broadening their professional experience and learning about multiculturalism in Britain.
“No,” said Zarinah, affable and determined to leverage the entire educational experience in London. “It is not because women cannot become prime minister under the UMNO (the ruling Malay party) constitution. It is because the men in UMNO would not vote for a woman to head the party.”
But, assuming a woman such as Rafidah Aziz, the firebrand high-achieving minister for international trade and industry, or Dr. Zeti Akhtar Aziz, the highly respected governor of Bank Negara Malaysia, the central bank, should be voted as leader of UMNO and therefore become prime minister, would they vote for them, I asked.
The answer was quite revealing. The six women civil servants all said ‘no’, because neither Rafidah nor Dr. Zeti wear the Hijab. The women civil servants were all hijabis.
Despite Malaysia’s image as a progressive and functional Muslim country in which women especially in the workplace are excelling, there remains a strong undercurrent of religious conservatism, especially in areas related to theology whether in civil service, education, business, family law or society in general. Malaysian students, both men and women, for instance reading Islamic studies at universities such as Al-Azhar are known for their “ultra-conservatism.”
In fact, Malaysian prime minister Abdullah Badawi through his ‘Islam Hadhari’ policy has been trying to project a more civil and functional view of Islam where the role of women is consistent with the principles of gender equality and justice as laid out in the Shariah. But even he has had to back down to a certain extent because of the country’s ultra-conservative religious establishment. Instead, it has been left to organizations such as ‘Sisters in Islam (SIS),’ an independent but controversial non-governmental organization, formed in 1988, to lobby for women’s rights in Malaysia, but “always within the framework of Islam and the Shariah.” SIS has a formidable leader, Zainah Anwar, who believes in “an Islam that upholds the principles of equality, justice, freedom and dignity.” Two of her close friends are Marina Mahathir, daughter of former prime minister Dr. Mahathir Mohamed, and Nori Abdullah, daughter of current premier Abdullah Badawi.
Nevertheless, the lot of Malaysian women especially in politics, business and finance is infinitely better than their counterparts in other Muslim countries. Malaysia officially has full employment and has one of the highest literacy rates in the world — higher even than many of the leading OECD countries. More than half of Malaysian women work — many in top jobs in government, financial regulation, business, banking, education and so on.
Aside from Rafidah Aziz and Dr. Zeti, there are many high-performing women in government, the civil service and in corporate life. Zarinah Anwar is the chairman of the Securities Commission of Malaysia, which is the securities regulator. Another minister, Shahrizat Binti Abdul Jalil is tipped as a future prime minister, and Dr. Mashitah Binti Ibrahim is also a minister tipped for high office. In many respects, the caliber of women politicians is much better than their male counterparts in the succession to Badawi.
What are the lessons for organizations such as the nascent Saudi Business and Professional Women’s Association (SBAPWA) and similar organizations in other Muslims countries based on the Malaysian experience? This notion of some women working against the “cause” of women in general is not confined to Malaysia. Afnan Al-Zyayni, a Bahraini woman who stood for elections to the Bahrain Business Council in 2006, blamed her failure on the lack of support from her fellow women. Out of 1,600 registered businesswomen in Bahrain, only a handful bothered to turn out to vote, she lamented. However, others are more measured. Rola Dashti, one of the 28 women candidates for parliamentary elections in Kuwait in July 2006, at a conference last year on Gulf women in business, highlighted the major difficulties she and her colleagues faced — death threats; removal of campaign posters; attempts at bribery; and promises of support if the women wore hijab. In the end, none of the 28 female candidates were elected in a poll that allowed the full participation of women in the electoral process for the first time. Kuwait, however, can be an anomaly and an enigma at times. Maha Al-Ghunaim, for instance, was last month appointed without opposition as the chairman and chief executive of Global Investment House, one of the emerging stars in Kuwaiti banking and finance with assets in excess of $6.5 billion. On the other hand, women constitute more than 50 percent of the Kuwaiti population, yet they are under-represented in the National Assembly, government and in the corporate sector, and marginalized as voters.
But, the message across the Muslim world remains that these countries and most of their (male-dominated) organizations are institutionally biased against women. Take for instance, the 31st annual meeting of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) held in May 2006 in Kuwait City, where the role of women in development and business was on the agenda for the very first time. A side meeting on the topic was perhaps very revealing about the dichotomy of this role in the Muslim countries, especially the Gulf.
The sole women of prominence participating were Dr. Massouma Al-Mubarak, minister of planning of Kuwait and a state minister in the economics department from Pakistan. Yet, there was a kaleidoscope of women in attendance — delegates, coordinators and ushers — some in modern western dress; others wearing a fusion of western chic with the hijab; and others still wearing the full black abaya and the nikab which covers the full face except the eyes.
The side meeting, stressed one delegate who wished to remain anonymous, was effectively staged managed by men. The IDB set up a Women’s Consultative Committee to advise its board of executive directors about the contribution and needs of women in development and poverty alleviation. In reality, the committee is a one-woman band and a bit of a sham, according to the delegate. I doubt very much whether the powers that be at the IDB are even aware of these sentiments.
In a way, the appointment of the odd women as ministers in various Muslim countries including the UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Malaysia, Indonesia, Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt, Morocco, etc., is becoming a cliche for social reform and progressiveness but which in reality is a mere veil for the lack of progress toward the real empowerment of women in these societies.
Ask any GCC businesswoman, for instance, about their roles in society and the state of gender equality and reforms, they will tend to crow about their new-found liberties, albeit highly regulated. But privately they are simmering with frustration and anger that they are being deprived of contributing their full role in the economic development of their countries. “The GCC has always been a male dominated society. When you enter into a society as an equal it is different. But when you have a ‘men only’ society and then women start to enter, it will take longer to change. In the Gulf, especially Saudi Arabia, there is also the Shariah (Islamic law). Some of the restrictions against the women are not even under Shariah, but often misinterpreted by men and implemented against the spirit of Shariah,” asserted one prominent Gulf businesswoman.
The danger is that the role of women in business in the GCC and for that matter in many Muslim countries, is becoming ghettoized into a restricted niche dominated by a cadre of educated women from wealthy and middle class backgrounds, tolerated because of economic necessity, but despised by the sheer conservatism of many insecure men, who see women also as economic rivals capable of competing with them for jobs. Women in many Muslim countries, indeed, tend to outperform men in education and in the job market, when they are thus empowered.
In the World Corruption Report 2005, Transparency International research showed that women have a far lower propensity for corruption and mismanagement in politics and business than their male counterparts. Very often they are more efficient and focused in running departments and business.
Even at a micro-level, the award-winning Grameen Bank in Bangladesh reports that most of its micro-credit recipients are women involved in cottage and basic vendor activities, and they have the best repayment record.
There is no doubt that compared to only five years ago, the lot of Gulf businesswomen has improved, although the degree of change differs from one country to the other. In Fujairah, for instance, four local women have been licensed to operate taxis under the Women’s Taxi Project. But this change, explains one UAE businesswoman, is increasingly a function of economics instead of genuine social reform. Creeping gender equality and desegregation in the workplace in the GCC is led by the corporate and private sector which is perhaps contributing more to social reform than the various departments of state.
Women in most of the Muslim countries would like gender equality and equal opportunities to be enshrined in law. They would like a cross-gender approach to politics, business and bureaucracy. Many countries do not have ministerial women’s affairs portfolios. However, with economic and human resource pressures on Muslim countries, it is inevitable that these countries are now seemingly “championing” an increasing role for the contribution of women to GDP.
Haifa Al-Kaylani, chairman of the Arab International Women’s Forum, has repeatedly warned, “It is essential that (Arab) women be integrated into the mainstream — taking advantage of education and skills training, accessing micro-credit or venture capital, and developing their full economic potential. When women prosper, families and communities prosper. Women’s contributions to the economy help nurture a secure, stable and peaceful society. The Arab world is facing many challenges and needs to explore how to turn these challenges into opportunities. The future growth of the region must be built on making better use of its human resources.”