WOMEN IN THE HOUSE : LEADERSHIP IN THE MALAYSIAN PARLIAMENT

Book excerpt: This book examines the representation of women in the Malaysian Parliament with a focus on the substantive representation of women in the 10th and 11th Dewan Rakyat, the lower house of the Malaysian Parliament. It aims, in particular, to see whether or not female MPs acted for women by proposing women-related issues in the Dewan Rakyat, the female MPs in the forefront of representing women are called critical actors. An in depth look at who these representative is and what were the issues they proposed has been carried out through content analysis of the parliamentary debates. A series of face-to-face interviews was conducted with these critical actors to examine what made them critical actors; considering the factors motivating them to represent women and address the problems women face. All of these components offer important insight to explore and understand the substantive representation of women in the Malaysian Parliament. Experience and gender awareness were found to be the major factors that contributed to their effective representation of women in the Parliament. Additionally, information and networking appeared to be crucial in facilitating this process. This book is suitable for both academic and public reading. In particular, it can be useful for politicians, policy makers, academics, practitioner’s, activists and student of politics who are interested in understanding about women representation in the Malaysian parliament.