ABSTRACT

Over the past two decades, the Malaysian government has made several commitments towards realising women’s rights and gender equality in the country. At the global level, it has ratified – albeit with reservations 1 – three key international human rights treaties: the United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of the Child, Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. It is a signatory to major agreements like the Cairo Programme of Action and the Beijing Platform for Action, and outcome documents from the UN International Conference on Population and Development 1994 and the Fourth World Conference on Women 1995. It was also a prime mover behind the Putrajaya Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Declaration 2005, which focuses on women’s empowerment. At the national level, Malaysia prohibits any form of gender discrimination, via an amendment to Article 8(2) of the Federal Constitution in 2001. As well, there is a National Policy on Women (updated in 2009) and a Women’s Development Action Plan.