KUALA LUMPUR: Cuepacs is concerned about the “increasing
dominance” of female employees in the civil service, saying it would
have “long-term implications on the progress and growth of the country.”
Its
secretary-general Ahmad Shah Mohd Zin said on Monday that the trend now
was that more women officers were being appointed to important
decision-making posts.
For example, almost three quarters of the
new posts in the administrative and diplomatic service (PTD) were being
filled by women, he said, adding that this was contrary to the present
government policy to “reserve only 30% of decision-making posts for
women.”
(The actual government policy is to have women in at least 30% of decision-making posts. -- ED)
The teaching profession was also dominated by women, he added.
According to Human Resources Minister Datuk Dr S. Subramaniam, the ratio of male and female teachers was 30:70.
Ahmad
Shah said that while Cuepacs appreciated the Government’s gender
equality policy, it nevertheless wanted it to be implemented with great
care so as not to “upset the balance between male and female employees.”
He
said both males and females had their own strengths and weaknesses and
they should balance each other for the good of the service.
However,
the National Union of the Teaching Profession (NUTP) secretary-general
Lok Yim Pheng said that although there were more women teachers, the
decision-making process in the education service was dominated by men.
She said women teachers were performing very well and providing quality education to children.
She
suggested that the ministry recruit more male teachers in certain areas
like sports, physical education, and co-curricular activities, saying
that the ideal would be a 50-50 ratio for male and female teachers.
In PUTRAJAYA,
Puteri Umno expressed regret at the statement, saying that Cuepacs’
concern was unfounded and “showed the shallow thinking of its leaders.”
Puteri
Umno chief Datuk Rosnah Abdul Rashid Shirlin said the movement believed
that the appointment of more women to the PTD was supported by their
ability and would not have a long-term impact on the development of the
country as claimed.
She told Bernama that Cuepacs should instead
look into factors which led to fewer males in decision-making posts,
especially from the aspect that women outnumbered men in institutions
of higher learning.
She also said that the 30% decision-making
posts reserved for women only involved high-ranking posts in the
administration, which had yet to be reached, and did not apply to other
posts, including new PTD posts.
She said Ahmad Shah should
rethink his statement which did not take into consideration the
contributions of women to nation-building simply because he could not
accept the fact that there were now more capable women than men.
“Puteri
Umno believes that the involvement of women in whatever field is based
on merit and should be balanced with that of men,” she added. -- Bernama
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