Engender Consultancy

09/04/2024

17/12/2023

Honoured to have been part of a delegation comprising government representatives, legislators and civil society to the European Parliament and Germany earlier this year hosted by Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung Malaysia. Delighted to have been interviewed on the European Parliament online programme Musyawarah: Connecting ASEAN to Europe. Sharing here the podcast of the interview with Melisa Idris (ASTRO Awani), Abinaya Mohan (WAO) and myself (ENGENDER). Also on the podcast is Frances Fitzgerald, a Member of the European Parliament. The Malaysians come on 15 mins into the interview.
https://open.spotify.com/episode/4alVBgsU8umTxXPE8BEGbY?si=poGdcg8DRJi3WOlRQKFyLg

Listen to this episode from Musyawarah: connecting ASEAN and Europe on Spotify. Gender-based violence remains the most pervasive human rights violation in the world, and 2022 saw the highest number of intentional killings of women and girls in two decades. Ahead of the International Day for the Elim...

13/12/2023

"We welcome Datuk Seri Dr Noraini Ahmad, Datuk Aiman Athirah Sabu and Lim Hui Ying in their new portfolios which have a strong gender focus and look forward to working with and supporting them in advancing gender equality," said founder of NGO Engender Consultancy Omna Sreeni-Ong.

"Globally only 11% of finance ministers and central bank governors are women and so we laud the appointment of a female Deputy Finance Minister.

"With the institution of gender-responsive budgeting (GRB) across government, we hope that with this appointment, there will be greater attention to accelerating the GRB process and in turn equitable distribution of fiscal resources to benefit all Malaysians," says Omna.

PETALING JAYA: Women's and seniors' rights advocates have voiced mixed responses to the Cabinet reshuffle announced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

17/08/2023

https://www.thestar.com.my/lifestyle/family/2023/08/17/gender-responsive-budgeting-in-practice-programme-helps-ensure-fair-allocation-of-resources-for-all

The Gender Responsive Budgeting in Practice programme’s second cohort progresses successfully.

23/03/2023

The Women’s Tribunal 2021 (WT) is happy to announce that the Final Report of the WT is available online. Do go to the WT website https://www.womenstribunalmalaysia.com/en and click on FINAL REPORT.

The FINAL REPORT contains:

• 26 Witness statements; testimonies from women from diverse backgrounds who describe the discrimination and violations they have experienced

• 13 Advocate Statements which give the legal and cultural context including recommendations to eliminate the specific forms of discrimination.

• Judges Findings and Recommendations include:
Preamble
Inequalities and Violations at work
Rights of Contract workers
Rights of Domestic workers
Citizenship
Unilateral Conversions
Equality in Family Law and practice
Education
Rural Health
Gender Based Violence
Rights of Trans Women
Women in Political and Public Life

• Post women’s Tribunal Reflections
• Speeches during the launch and the close of the WT

The arduous work of writing, editing and translating including creating a WIX platform would not have been possible if not for the volunteer work of Chin Oy Sim, tan beng hui, Regana Zara Mydin and Santhi Latha. Thanks also to Sean Ho the WT Website Designer.

Ivy Josiah
Convener
23 March 2023

In 2021, some women’s groups* in Malaysia created their own court: a Women’s Tribunal to Reimagine Justice. Over two days — 27 and 28 November 2021 — 26 witnesses presented compelling personal testimonies before a panel of three judges, about the discrimination and violations of their rights...

12/01/2023

On 7 December 2022, Westminster Foundation for Democracy launched the 'Women's Political Leadership in the ASEAN region' report in Bali, Indonesia.

The report launch included discussions on 1) Pathways to Women’s Political Leadership in ASEAN to find out how women circumvent barriers and chart new pathways, and 2) Gender Responsive Budgeting (GRB) as a learning session from women MPs and WFD experts on the importance and application of GRB. This robust regional sharing session featured Malaysian insights from Deputy Minister YB Senator Fuziah Salleh, Selangor State Legislative Assemblyperson YB Lim Yi Wei 林怡威, Executive Director of GAP.MY Ms. Dinie Fadil, and Director of Engender Consultancy Ms. Omna Sreeni-Ong.

This research report sought to understand what barriers women face in their pursuit of political leadership. We consider what structural, institutional, economic and cultural factors that hinder or stop women from fully participating in political participation, leadership and governance. We focus on the members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) with in-depth case studies of Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand where WFD has teams and strategic priorities. We seek to profile women who have broken through these barriers or have forged and democratised pathways to political power. We pay special attention to women political leaders who have experienced violence – both visible and hidden – in their pursuit of change.

Read the key findings and full report here: https://www.wfd.org/what-we-do/resources/womens-political-leadership-asean-region

20/07/2022

Malaysia celebrates the passing of the Anti Sexual Harassment Bill in Parliament today. It is the culmination of a 37 year journey began by JAG and women activists in 1985. The advocacy continued and intensified recently with the Anti-Sexual Harassment Coalition comprising JAG's 14 organisations, ENGENDER and Young Women Making Change. We worked closely with Members of Parliament whose interventions in parliament today, in support of the Bill, raised many important issues. We thank the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development for championing the formulation and advocacy of the legislation. Now we look forward to working closely on the implementation and monitoring, to further strengthen the legislation to provide comprehensive protection and redress for victims and survivors of sexual harassment.

KUALA LUMPUR: Dewan Rakyat has voted to pass a bill to enact laws protect both men and women against sexual harassment.