Malaysia

Ethnic Conditions

The conditions of Malaysian women differ by ethnicity. As Muslims, most Malay women are governed according to the Islamic laws of the Syariah Court, and also by Malay customary law, or adat. According to Syariah laws, for example, men and women are supposed to be maintained in separate spaces. If a Muslim man or woman is caught in “close proximity” to a person of the opposite gender outside of marriage, this is deemed as khalwat, a legal offense that may lead to a fine and/or imprisonment. In 2006, Marina Mahathir, the daughter of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, compared conditions of Malay women to peoples living under “apartheid,” because of their legal separation from men in the public sphere. This pronouncement generated a great deal of controversy.

In comparison with Muslim women in the Middle East, however, Malaysian Muslim women enjoy a great deal more personal and legal freedom; they manage to play a prominent role both in business and public life. In addition, Malay women receive some measure of positive discrimination, as the state recognizes all Malays as bumiputera, or “sons of the soil.” In order to make it easier for Malays to enter more lucrative professions [Page 884]and the civil service, for example, Malaysian universities maintain different standards of admission for Malays than for other ethnic groups.

Malaysians from minority ethnic groups, mainly the Chinese and Indian Malaysians, are allowed to set up their own schools to teach in their respective languages. However, they find it more difficult to enter national universities. These discriminatory economic and educational policies have most affected the minority Indian population, and in turn minority Indian women. Of the Indian Malay community, about 15 percent live in urban squatter settlements, with total household income below the minimum wage.

Improvement over Time

In general, however, the conditions of Malaysian women have improved greatly since the country gained independence in 1957. Maternal mortality rates have greatly decreased, and life expectancy has increased to 74 years. There has also been great progress in women's education in general. The Malaysian Constitution provides 11 years of free basic education for all Malaysian children, and by 1999 well over half of Malaysia's university students were female.

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