In Malaysia, the Women’s manifesto was launched in 1990, prior to general elections, to secure commitments from all political parties to improve the status of women in the key concerns of works, the law, violence against women, development, health, corruption and human rights.
Towards the mid-1990s, several women groups in Malaysia came up with the “11 point Agenda” that is “Women’s Agenda For Change” to the government before the 4th UN World Conference on Women in Beijing on 1995.
In 1997, the Women Affairs Department, under the Ministry of National Unity and Social Development, formulated a follow up Action Plan for Women in Development to translate policy into action. It emphasized on the need :
- to ensure Women’s equal access to and full participation in power structures and decision making;
- to increase women’s capacity to participate in decision making and leadership;
- to enhance the mechanism, ensuring the advancement and development of women at all levels;
- to encourage the potential economy growth for women;
- to reaffirm women rights and status under law formation and amendment;
- to eliminate domestic violence against women
Although the woman development in education and economic were improving but women in politics still at a low representation percentage. 4 questions were discussed and debated :
- It is a great challenge for women to achieve the target of 30% in Decision Making. ARE YOU READY?
- Women hold up half of the sky, you are half of the population of the country, have you fully utilized your human resources?
- Women control more than 50% votes in General Election, did you really exercise our right?
- As wife and mother to the family, how do you plan to balance your roles in career and family life?
A crash course:
A Leader can be blind. But a leader cannot be a mute. Audience will pass judgment on a leader by observing how they communicate.”
There are 4 types of communicators:
- The Gallery Man: Tells the crowd what they want to hear. Loves the attention they get.
- The Gunslinger: Usually will throw diplomacy into the wind. Courageous, talks a lot of sense.
- The Elegant: Rarely speaks, speak softly. When speaking, does not have good statistics to back up statements. Statements oscillate depending on speaker’s mood and memory.
- The Charismatic: Intelligent. Non-confrontationist. Use witty and positive statements but yet get his points across.
Before communication commence, the speaker needs to anticipate the needs of the audience, separate people from the problems and focus on interests instead of positions. Good communicators have the ability to separate the problems from the relationship by looking into:
- Perceptions (Place yourself in their shoes)
- Emotions (Recognize they exist, do not react to them)
- Communications (Listen & avoid misunderstandings)
- Assumptions (Be patient)
To speak effectively, a politician should not take things personally. When they speak, be confident and do not take or defend a position without flexibility. Listening skills is essential. Many people in a conversation aren’t really listening. Listening is requisite for an exchange of ideas.
The person who asks questions controlled the conversation and the person who has to answer the question is usually on the defensive side of the conversation. Therefore, practice to ask question with following techniques:
- Direct questions: asked of a particular individual, allows you to initiate control
- Return questions: puts the question back to the questioner
- General overview questions: initiate a discussion or set up a thoughtful exercise
- Hypothetical questions: tests the responder’s problem-solving ability by posing a hypothetical situation
