ABSTRACT
In Malaysia, the accenting of any rights, be they ethnic, class or religious, is frequently attained through political bargaining and exchanges. However, unlike rights advanced on the basis of ethnic or religious lines, gender rights are not usually accomplished through the politics of electioneering. Women’s issues have not been significantly aired in Malaysian electoral politics as women’s votes have not been perceived to be able to tip the political equation in any consequential way. On the other hand, the issue had never been conceptually problematized, because in Malaysia, gender has been superseded by other identity markers, notably ethnicity. For example, political constituents are not profiled by gender but almost always by ethnicity. Thus, the absence of data on gender from election statistics is one reason why it is not easy to gauge the gender factor in the electoral process. However, as democratic processes are not just realized through elections and electioneering, the women’s movement might still be able to play a crucial role in widening the space for democratic reforms despite its insignificant profile in electoral politics. This chapter explores the role of the Malaysian women’s movements in engendering a climate for democratization.
