Where did all the women go?

“Some leaders are born women.” – Geraldine Ferraro

I was fortunate enough to be selected as a participant to a recently concluded workshop entitled “Developing Talents of Women in Science, Technology, and Innovation” held in downtown Kuala Lumpur.

The workshop was jointly organised by the International Science, Technology and Innovation Centre for South-South Corporation under the auspices of Unesco (ISTIC), NAM Institute for the Empowerment of Women (NIEW), and the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development. It saw the participation of 35 female leaders and aspiring leaders involved in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) from 13 NAM countries including Malaysia.

The workshop not only provided an opportunity to network and strengthen development in STEM industries among the participants and their respective countries, but was also a platform for women empowerment in general.

Personally, I felt that many of the participants were already leaders of their respective fields, and I was sure that the title of the workshop was a misnomer. It should be called “Why women should run the world” instead! I also felt very small among such exceptional ladies, and inspired to continue working harder to develop STEM education and women empowerment in Malaysia.

An obvious observation from the data and experience shared throughout the 4-day workshop is this: girls and women are now empowered enough to be in STEM. In general, there are fewer and, in some countries, no limitations at all to female education. On the surface, it sure looks like feminism has won.

Looking closer at the 2014 data for Malaysia sourced from the Ministry of Women, 52.4% women are in the workforce – an almost 1:1 representation to men. I note that this report did not mention transmen and transwomen in a separate category. However, only 32.5% of key decision makers in the civil service sector are women. The number of women key decision makers in the corporate and entrepreneurship sectors are far fewer, which prompted the 30% Club by Pemandu launched back in May this year. 

Young women seem to dominate the enrolment in tertiary education, where a 2013 data from the Ministry showed 61% enrolment by women. The same report cited 65,790 female graduates in STEM; however, the number of female engineering graduates is still at a lower percentage compared to men, at 41% overall compared to other STEM fields.

From this data, it appears that we should all just rest on our laurels. However, the challenges that women face in the workforce and even representation in key decision making positions and meetings are still blatant and real.

Most of the participants from the workshop I attended and even the speakers themselves talked of the glass ceiling and the need to break it. Women in general are still too docile in managing their own careers and pushing themselves up the leadership ladder. Supportive environments, in both the personal and professional fronts, are placed as the most important factor in order to achieve this “breaking of the glass ceiling”.

Personally, I feel that this barrier is one that we place ourselves, and that if we are truly empowered, there is no glass ceiling.

There still exist many improvements that need to be done to empower women and retain us in the workforce and our professional careers. Implementation of flexi-hours or the ability to work from home, childcare support at the office, and a non-sexist, merit-based review for career progression are a few policies already being pushed at all levels.

Realistically, we still have a long way to go in changing not only policies but also perceptions and societal expectations that still conform to gender stereotypes.

Lest we forget, the move towards empowering women should also include men. A stanza from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s poem and TEDTalk rings true: “We tell girls, you can have ambition, but not too much. You should aim to be successful, but not too successful, otherwise you would threaten the man. If you are the breadwinner in your relationship with a man, you have to pretend that you’re not. Especially in public. Otherwise you will emasculate him. But what if we question the premise itself? Why should a woman’s success be a threat to a man?”

Suffice to say, it takes a real man to not feel threatened by strong, resilient women.

Equal representation should start with us raising our voices to be heard. We need to ensure that there no longer exist all-male panels at conferences or workshops, be it organised by academic or professional bodies, think tanks or civil society organisations.

We need to educate girls that they can be scientists, engineers or follow any career path of their choice. We have to allow women to have careers, with or without their choice of having children. Credibility and ability should be the merit for promotion, not gender.

It is only through enabling environments that we will be able to retain our workforce. After all, quoting Michelle Obama, “when girls are educated, their countries become stronger and more prosperous”. – August 12, 2015.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.