Written by: Averroes
(1.0) Introduction
According to the Association of Women Lawyer (AWL) conducted by the Human Rights Commission, Malaysia (SUHAKAM) and the Women's Aid Organisation, 51% of lawyers in Malaysia are females as of 2014. The full report may be accessed here.
As early as 2013, there 7578 male lawyers and 7753 female lawyers as according to the Malaysian Bar statistics. However, the figures has changed drastically where there are now only 9208 male lawyers and 11348 female lawyers in 2022.
How can this phenomenon be explained?
For some time, the author has always wondered why women has been dominating the tertiary education system. In the past, higher education are mostly reserved for the wealthy and affluent gentlemen, from the aristocracy, business merchants and royalty.
However, as the political ideologies of the world has shifted and feminism is on the rise, education has now become more accessible for women. As a secondary school student, the author observes that the 'kelas pertama' or classes ranked by grades with the top ones dominated by females.
In class, the top classes would only be filled in by a quorum of females. For instances, there are 25 students in class and only 5 of them are males. This trend continues into universities, especially in law school.
Some of the reasons known for this is that, boys at secondary school are generalised to not strive in their education and SPM, as they are hackneyed for being stubborn, indolent and are too occupied with the trivialities of instant-gratification, such as video games and lepaking. (nothing inherently wrong unless done too excessively).
Their choices are to start working in low-income jobs with the pretentious belief of climbing the working ladder, start their own small businesses or pursue mechanical or practical courses after SPM. It's not wrong to do that, but it is wrong if we remain stagnant and do not pursue other opportunities and options.
Girls on the other hand are expected to be well-behaved, focus on their studies and work scrupulously to enter into universities. This has caused a horrendous gap and disparity between the social expectations of men and women.
Men have become weaker while women, who are traditionally supposed to be lead are now forced to carry the residues of burden by weaker men today. Hope is not lost, because right now is the defining moment. Start now and your future self will thank you for what you did to reach your purpose and goals in life.
It is the age of renaissance for men.
(2.0) Conditions of Women in the Legal World
Glass-Ceiling
Until today, while women are slowly replacing men in the legal profession, this field is still monopolised and controlled by the smaller numbers of men. Let's see an analogy or example, but this might be contoversial or inaccurate.
In South Africa, there used to be the apartheid movement, where the majority black Africans are governed by the minority white population. This situation is the same for female lawyers in Malaysia, as the minority men still gain leverage in this profession.
According to statistics by AWL, SUHAKAM and WAO, only 25% of women eventually become consultants (who are experienced lawyers or judges) and partners. The bottom hierarchy of lawyers are legal assistants, which comprise of 68% of women.
The Malaysian Bar Council exco between 2003 to 2013 are only 17% women. Only 9% of the Kuala Lumpur Bar between 2003 to 2013 are women. Not to mention, 80% of women earn below RM35,000 a year as compared to men at 60%.
Commitment to Families
Women in the AWL Survey answered that 41% of women as compared to men at 23% are struggling in the legal profession as they have children to take care of.
Hence, 1/3 of men in the survey answered that they married housewives, because if not, who will take care of the children?
For women, of course in Malaysia, women want to marry a man who has a job. Definitely, that husband could not take care of children that a housewife should. This is evident that 93% of the female lawyers answered that their husbands work full-time.
For most women, once they are married and have children, they stop working in the legal field and are fully committed to her family. While on maternity leave, they do not receive the same remuneration as male lawyers, including bonus or increment, despite working diligently before maternity leave.
Sexual Harassment
According to the survey, 31% of women answered that they faced sexual harassments, which includes suggestive remarks and verbal harassment, from comments on the physical body, being called as 'darling' or 'baby' in a professional setting, receiving dirty jokes and hearing profanity.
There were also incidents of trying to take an advantage from holding hands, sitting on their lap, attempting to kiss. There were even clients inducing female lawyers to go on a date, but under the false impression of 'discussing work', asked to stay late by their senior colleagues and invited to go on a paid holiday with the clients and more.
There is no clear policy in the legal working environment, but there are developments in the law to counter workplace sexual harassment, an article which can be read here.
Gender-Bias
In the legal workplace, most opportunities are given to men instead. This ranges from bigger cases and files given to male lawyers. The justification is that, clients prefer male lawyers as they are confident and assertive. Female lawyers conversely are incompetent and are viewed with lower levels of trust.
(3.0) Conclusion
To conclude, while there is the existence of gender inequality among lawyers, perhaps that is not the only indicative factor. Sometimes, it is actually based on the competency, meritocracy and qualifications of that particular person.
Just because someone is a woman, does not mean they are obligated to receive the rights for workplace mobility. For instances, the premise of increasing mandatory parliamentary seat for women only at 30% would be self-defeating if increased to 60% for example, because we are now only focusing on gender, but not the skill or actual talent of the person.
This situation would be self-defeating and destroys the actual purpose of reaching equality, but causing more inequality and deprecating the image of women.
Sometimes, men are accused for being sexist or a misogynist because of so-called depriving women of further opportunities. Well, in all honesty, sometimes it's not about the gender, but the performance of that woman as an individual.
Quoting from Nenney Shuhaidah Shamsuddin, the only female judge out of 2 in history to ascend into the Syariah High Court, where typically women are only judges in the Lower Courts once said;
"To me, it's simple: a judge's personality, knowledge and experience have more of an effect on their decision than their gender does. I'm optimistic that one day society will see no difference between males and females when it comes to being a judge in Syariah Court."
"I see no difference between a female and male judge. A judge follows rules and the law. Also, in Syariah, a judge is accountable to Allah. We can't just empower women, but we need to empower our men as well, and remind them to honour their responsibilites as husbands and fathers."
This may sound absurd for some readers but again, every incident has to become a gender issue this 21st Century. All in all, yes, women does represent one of the marginalised groups and should be supported and given the best of assistance.
They play an important role in society and help build our communities from nursing future leaders of the world and participate in everyday functioning of life. The author does recognise the labours of women and that safeguards should be afforded.
(4.0) References;
https://www.malaysianbar.org.my/article/about-us/malaysian-bar-and-bar-council/about-us/figures/general-statistics
https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2015/12/13/51pc-of-the-malaysian-bar-are-women-so-why-wont-they-speak-up/1022085
https://www.thestar.com.my/lifestyle/family/2020/06/17/women-lawyers-stand-against-sexual-harassment-in-the-legal-profession
https://www.tatlerasia.com/the-scene/people-parties/first-female-syariah-high-court-judge-in-malaysia-nenney-shuhaidah-shamsuddin
https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2019/05/02/malaysian-bar-hails-first-woman-cj-says-proves-gender-should-never-trump-me/1749150
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