KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 18 — Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz denounced feminism today as she repeated her criticism of gender quotas.

The former international trade and industry minister in the Mahathir administration, known as Malaysia’s “Iron Lady”, claimed that Malaysia has been doing more than other countries to promote women’s development and told women to improve themselves.

“For God’s sakes, ban that word ‘feminism’ from the vocabulary. The men never talk about masculinism,” Rafidah said in a talk at UCSI University here today titled “Staying ahead in the competitive world: How Malaysia should align itself with the 21st century”.

“I hate this 30 per cent quota. Women are not quota fillers. Don’t degrade us just to fill quotas. Women should be considered for their competence and abilities. Don’t talk about numbers. Numbers don’t matter. Quality matters,” she added.

Rafidah also said women’s performance should not be measured by the number of female MPs, CEOs or board directors.

“What does it matter? One woman on the board can out-talk 10 men. That’s important. Numbers don’t matter, quality does,” she added.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak announced in 2011 that Putrajaya would implement a 30 per cent quota for women in corporate boardrooms, but it has yet to be made law.

Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Rohani Abdul Karim said in 2013 that a “persuasive” approach would be more effective than enforcing gender quotas.