KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 22 — Women can best contribute to nation-building efforts by carrying out the task for which they have been physiologically assigned, a woman activist with Islamist group Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia (Isma) said today, insisting the gender is built for staying at home and raising children.
Amid the controversy that has engulfed her Isma colleague Dr Nur Farrah Nadia, Dr Fatimah Zaharah Rosli argued today that women played a “more vital” role as a mother and home-maker than anything they could possibly achieve outside as they have the “hormones, the DNA, the emotions” to do so even as she acknowledged that more men were becoming increasingly “domesticated” and taking on the roles previously assigned to the other gender.
“I am a wife first, then a mother, then a daughter, and then a doctor,” she said in a statement, singling out DAP politician Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud and social activist Datin Paduka Marina Mahathir as examples of detractors of this philosophy who are “undermining” women who have committed themselves to being housewives and mothers.
Dr Fatimah Zaharah also branded women’s advocacy group Sisters in Islam (SIS) as “hypocritical” for condemning the right of women to be home-makers.
She reminded Dyana Sofya and Marina that they are who they are today due to the upbringing from their mothers, Yammy Samat and Tun Dr Siti Hasmah Mohamad Ali respectively.
In a pointed counter to Marina whom she noted had asked what the future held for the 70 per cent of non-graduate men, Dr Fatimah Zaharah asked the eldest daughter of former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad where she thought the males have gone.
The Isma activist argued that many of the social problems facing today’s youths of both genders, including accidental pregnancies, early marriages and drug addiction were due to the lack of parental care and guidance, in particular from the absence of a mother figure at home.
She added that she while she is confident she will be able to secure a place in heaven due to her work as a doctor, she insisted that more her role as a mother holds greater importance.
“A mother’s role at home with her kids is vital. More vital than her role outside.
“A working woman plays a vital role in contributing towards the nation’s development, whichever field she decides to work in.
“But of utmost importance is her understanding towards her role as family member and the job she’s assigned to in the family, simply because she is made for it.
“She has got the hormones, the DNA, the emotions. Why don’t we just let these women do what they are naturally good at without looking down on them?” she said.
Last Thursday, Dr Nur Farrah, who heads Isma’s family and society bureau, argued that Malaysia can still be a high-income nation if its men remain the main breadwinners and its women focused on raising children, amid concerns over the effect of youth marriages on the economy.
“A high income nation must not rely on women as the major contributor, but rather men should lead the workforce and put their biggest effort in shaping the nation,” she wrote on the group’s website.
“Our females need to be highly educated in various skills to bring up healthy, successful girls and boys and must contribute to the community in a way that best suits them,” she added, without elaborating further.
Citing the Wall Street Journal, Dr Nur Farrah listed Japan as an example of a successful nation with low involvement of women in the workforce, making up about 40 per cent of the workforce and only 1.2 per cent of board members in major corporations.
