Examining gender focal point (gfp) roles to implement gender mainstreaming: The experiences of public sectors in malaysia

Abstract

The participation of women in all spheres of life has been accelerated by strategies such as gender mainstreaming. Gender mainstreaming, which was launched in 1995 at the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, is a global strategy used to promote gender equality. It refers to the process of assessing the implications for women and men of any planned action, including legislation, policies or programs, in all areas and at all levels. Hence, Malaysia has agreed to comply with GM procedure when the population of women in this country achieves 49 percent. Malaysian’s Gender Gap Index (MGGI) was used to evaluate the achievement of gender equality. It was developed by the Organization C that responsibility to women and community development in Malaysia with the assistance of United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in 2004. Four dimensions are used as parameters to evaluate MGGI. They are (i) women empowerment in politics, (ii) activities in economics, (iii) health and (iv) education. This paper discusses the roles of gender focal point (GFP) as a case study in two selected public sector organizations in implementation of Gender Mainstreaming in Malaysia. This study uses interview and content analysis. The results of this study show that the GFPs appointed have performed their roles based on the tasks listed by the Organization C. However the tasks were carried out based on the needs and interests of the respective GFPs organizations only. Similar to other countries, the implementation of GM in the ministries also faces similar problems such as vague understanding of GM, and lack of commitment from the institutions’ leadership.