The Courage of NCWO Trailblazers - an Inspiration to Women Today
Sir Isaac Newton the famed 17th century mathematician and physicist wrote in a letter that “If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants”. Even though he was a genius himself, Newton knew that he could not have come up with his scientific breakthroughs on his own. Newton was known to be influenced by many scien
tists and philosophers. His discovery of, optics, calculus and laws of motion among others was in the light of discoveries made by fellow scientists and predecessors such as Copernicus, Galileo Galilei and Keppler. Newton used the word Giant to refer to people who were giants in the scientific community but this can be generalized to other realms, including our personal lives. We are who we are because of the hard work of the people who came before us in our respective fields. Impact makers and women breaking boundaries today are standing on the shoulders of giants and trailblazers, many of whom are women. In NCWO, we recognize the giants as our founding mothers who were pioneer activists who trailblazed and broke boundaries in the early 1960s. Through their voluntary work on women’s issues and development, canvassing for women’s support in the founding of political parties, dedication to humanitarian causes, devotion to the development of young women, championing the rights of women and gender equality, they aptly foresaw that gender parity was crucial for the new nation to move forward. They were fearless activists, firm and forceful advocates for justice, women’s rights and national unity. They strongly believed that women must speak with one voice and NCWO is that voice. Thus the idea was mooted to bring together women’s organisations in a structured manner. The first activity of the pro-tem committee was to organize Hari Wanita, as way to recognize and acknowledge women’s contribution to nation building. In fact Hari Wanita is entrenched as an objective in the NCWO Constitution until today. The date 25 August was selected by the first Prime Minister, Almarhum Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra who said that women should be celebrated before the celebration of Hari Merdeka. The first Hari Wanita was celebrated in 1962, attended by HM the Queen and the Prime Minister. NCWO was launched on 25 August 1963, the second celebration of Hari Wanita. Profesor Emerita Tan Sri Dato' Seri Dr. Sharifah Hapsah Syed Hasan Shahabudin
President NCWO
