International Trade and Industry Ministry deputy secretary-general Mastura Ahmad Mustafa said women should be given leadership roles based on merit.
She was among the panelists for the session "Empowering Women Leaders in Asean’s Economic Growth" that included disease expert Prof Dr Adeeba Kamarulzaman and activist Izzana Salleh moderated by Star Media Group chief content officer Datin Paduka Esther Ng.
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She was among the panelists for the session "Empowering Women Leaders in Asean’s Economic Growth" that included disease expert Prof Dr Adeeba Kamarulzaman and activist Izzana Salleh moderated by Star Media Group chief content officer Datin Paduka Esther Ng.
Read more at https://bit.ly/40rIRVB
WATCH MORE: https://thestartv.com/c/news
SUBSCRIBE: https://cutt.ly/TheStar
LIKE: https://fb.com/TheStarOnline
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NewsTranscript
00:00Actually I don't really agree with having this percentage number because
00:05you have the tendency to work towards that threshold but we want more than
00:11that and we want women to be recognized on marriage not because just to
00:19meet that percentage point. So for example all this while we are looking at
00:2430% but have we actually achieved that 30%? Even that 30% is so difficult to achieve.
00:31International Trade and Industry Ministry Deputy Secretary-General
00:35Mastura Ahmad Mustafa spoke out against setting quotas for women during the
00:40panel session at the ASEAN Opinion Leaders Conference Outlook for 2025 on
00:45Thursday. She was one of the panelists for the session titled Empowering Women
00:50Leaders in ASEAN's Economic Growth, moderated by Star Media Group Chief
00:55Content Officer Datun Paduka Esther Ung. Infectious disease expert Professor
01:01Dr. Adiba Kamarulzaman disagreed with Mastura, saying it is still important to
01:06have a quota for women in top roles.
01:08Esther, I have mixed feelings about this. Obviously you want to be on the board or whatever for merit, for your own, you know, the right reasons.
01:20But for where we are right now, it is important to have that goal because otherwise it's easy enough to make excuses and say we can't find the women.
01:35They already are making those excuses, can't find the right woman, this, that, the other.
01:40But equally importantly is to have the interventions to allow, to ensure that, you know, we are producing women leaders.
01:53Girls for Girls International Global President and Co-Founder Izana Salleh also expressed similar sentiments, saying a quota is necessary as women might still miss out on opportunities despite having merit and experience.
02:07To a certain extent, I agree with Prof, I do have mixed feelings. I do think that if there wasn't this conversation, pushing for a certain number, and of course beyond, I'm game for 50% or more, the actual appointment may not happen.
02:24And so we need to normalize this conversation. We want to see at least half your board as women because the conversation there, the decisions made there really make a difference.
02:34Prof. Ng recounted being shocked to find she was the only woman editor-in-chief from mainstream media six years ago.
02:40It's really a man's world back then, you know. Now we have five, which is a good thing, but it's still a dismal number if you ask me.
02:53Because although it's a small industry, it is not that small, and there are only five of us, and I'm not talking about the magazines and, you know, I'm talking about the mainstream media.
03:04There are not that many, but there are only five of us, and this is the media industry, the very industry which questions the fact that, you know, what happened to your 30% of women as decision makers. But look at our own industry.
03:27The two-day conference of which SMG is an exclusive media partner concludes today.
03:34Thank you to our panelists.