Women’s participation in empowerment programmes in Penang on the rise

The Star

Some 4,000 women gathered in Penang for a Wanita Bangkit programme recently while another wave of 10,000 women came together to celebrate International Women’s Day this year.  The participation of women in empowerment programmes in Penang has been on the rise over the past decade, thanks to Penang Women's Development Corporation.  WATCH MORE: https://thestartv.com/c/news SUBSCRIBE: https://cutt.ly/TheStar LIKE: https://fb.com/TheStarOnline

Transcript

00:00 Over the past decade, women empowerment and gender inclusiveness issues have reached greater heights

00:07 with the Penang government spearheading various initiatives through Penang Women's Development Corporation or PWDC.

00:15 Penang's caretaker ex-co in charge of social development, Chong Ng, said women in Penang are now more empowered to let their voices be heard.

00:25 After we have JPWK, I can see that the JPWK really move.

00:30 They move very fast in the community. They are very good in the community.

00:35 And that's why we have a network of JPWK.

00:39 And from there we expanded to Raylanita.

00:42 And that's how we are able to mobilize women now.

00:46 That's how we are able to put 10,000 women, International Women's Day.

00:51 We are able to have a Wanita Banquet.

00:54 No other state can do it yet.

00:56 To me, this is the effect of the last many years, the hard work by PWDC of empowering women.

01:04 We organize workshops for them.

01:07 We train their leadership skills.

01:11 Chong said she was inspired when she was the Bukit Mertajam MP,

01:15 as she realized that many women were not aware that they had a right to voice out issues in decision-making policies.

01:22 She said setting the right direction is important to empower women,

01:25 and hence the Gender Inclusiveness Policy was adopted by the state government in 2019,

01:32 with PWDC as the agency to implement it.

01:36 I think it's in through their participation.

01:39 If they participate in certain things, they can be normalized.

01:42 They are participating in the community.

01:46 You can see they are empowered.

01:49 They have the ability to fend for themselves.

01:53 One of the staff, Masita, in PWDC,

01:57 she has fought for her children's maintenance for the last 10 years,

02:03 and she finally got it.

02:05 Not every woman can do that.

02:07 She has been working with PWDC from the process, and she feels supported.

02:13 It's only when you feel supported, then you can take action to fight for your own rights.

02:19 Chong said Pinang pioneered the Women and Family Development Committee

02:23 in each of the 40 state constituencies to organize empowerment and family development programs.

02:29 Each committee comprises 15 all-women members,

02:33 and this has seen 600 female grassroots leaders organizing about 400 community-based programs

02:39 and events each year with a budget of RM1.756 million from the state coffers.

02:46 [no dialogue]

Category

Transcript

Recommended