PETALING JAYA: With less than a week to go before early voting, coalitions are presenting their GE15 manifestos and pledging to address various issues, especially those related to women.
Barisan Nasional’s (BN) “Perancangan Amal dan Usaha”, Perikatan Nasional’s (PN) “Prihatin, Bersih dan Stabil” and Pakatan Harapan’s (PH) “Tawaran Harapan” have similar pledges, and one that stood out is the promise to amend Article 14(1)(b) of the Federal Constitution.
The section concerns Malaysian mothers who give birth abroad according citizenship to their children. Currently, such privilege is reserved only for Malaysian fathers.
It was reported that on Aug 5, the Court of Appeal in a 2-1 majority decision ruled that children born overseas to Malaysian mothers who are married to foreign spouses are not entitled, by operation of law, to be Malaysian citizens.
For women returning to work after a career break, BN pledged to fully exempt them from paying income tax for five years.
“This initiative aims to encourage women who are still active to return to the job market and this tax exemption will ease their financial burden after taking a career break,” BN chairman Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said on Monday.
He also mentioned tax deduction incentives for employers who introduce flexible work hours for working mothers.
Meanwhile, PN proposed a support system for working mothers and mothers returning to work, including special provisions for parental care and childcare facilities at the workplace, while PH is pledging childcare subsidies for working mothers from the B40 and M40 groups.
PN also promised interest-free loans of up to RM20,000 per person for women who want to venture into businesses, under a programme called “DanaNita: Wanita Bangkit Berniaga” for first-time women entrepreneurs.
PH plans to have support programmes with a minimum quota of 40% participation by women and the disabled for skills training purposes, and grants for small businesses and in-house industries.
Under the same programmes, PH pledged to increase participation in business, agriculture and farming by providing micro-credit schemes and funding support schemes, training and administrative consultancy support, with a minimum quota of 40% participation by women and the disabled.
On supporting women in leadership positions, BN intends to develop the first public women’s university and establish a Women Leadership Academy, while PN aims to ensure at least 30% participation of women in key positions in public and private sectors is achieved by 2025.
PN chairman Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin on Sunday said the party would intensify women involvement in high-tech and future-forward industries, while expanding opportunities for women to upskill professionally, enabling them to fill supervisory positions in the private sector or to start a business.
Prominent differences between the manifestos are women-related healthcare initiatives by BN, family-related initiatives prioritised by PN, and PH highlighting solutions for social issues faced by women.
In a statement on Facebook, BN promised to develop the first Women’s Public Specialist Hospital focusing on women’s health issues, apart from creating a national subsidy scheme for mammograms and cervical cancer screening, as breast and cervical cancer are common diseases among women.
To assist women in legal cases, PN plans to improve cooperation with state religious authorities on the enforcement of Hiwalah orders (debt transfer) to resolve issues related to women and children’s rights in cases involving divorce, abandonment and child support in syariah and civil courts.
PH is also pushing for gender inclusivity, and pledged that every Bill presented in Parliament will have a gender-inclusive approach, while aiming to resolve “period poverty” and planning to continue the National Strategic Plan to Address the Causes of Child Marriage 2025, to defend the rights of women and children.
