Coronavirus: advice to women fails to hit home in Malaysia

Malaysia has been forced into an embarrassing public apology over advice it offered to women in order to reduce friction at home.

Malaysian women were advised to emulate the tone of Doraemon, a popular Japanese cartoon cat

Wear lipstick. Don’t nag. Use a squeaky voice.

With Malaysia in its third difficult week of lockdown, and women’s groups reporting a steep rise in calls to domestic violence hotlines, the country’s Women’s Development Ministry offered this advice to women across the nation this week in order to reduce friction at home.

“If you see your partner do something that is contrary to what you want, avoid nagging but use ‘humorous’ words like ‘this is the way to hang up clothes to dry, sayangku (darling)’ while emulating Doraemon’s tone and following through with a coy giggle,” it suggested, referring to a popular Japanese cartoon cat, in one of a series of Instagram posts.

“Avoid wearing home clothes. Get ready as usual, wear make-up and dress neatly,” it said in another aimed at working women now juggling family and professional responsibilities from home.

“We would like to remind you not to be so caught up in work that you neglect your family members, possibly resulting in a violation of the Movement Control Order,” it added, offering no further explanation as to how an absence of lipstick might drive a spouse to lawbreaking.

The online posters, accompanied by the hashtag #WomenPrevent COVID-19, have sparked widespread ridicule across social media with some netizens uploading videos of themselves speaking in squeaky cat voices and hanging washing out in heels.

The ministry has since been forced into an embarrassing public apology. “We are taking feedback from several parties regarding the tips for women during the MCO period published on social media,” it said on Tuesday after removing several of the posts.

Many activists, however, say the apology has fallen far short and that the minister, Rina Harun, and her gaffe-prone deputy Siti Zailah Mohd Yusoff should resign.

“It would be wonderful if they were doing things like reaching out to victims of domestic violence because people know that at this time there is a likelihood of increased domestic violence,” Mal­aysian human rights lawyer Ambiga Sreenevasan told The Australian.

“That’s what they should be doing now; addressing the problems that arise out of the quarantine situation.

“What’s frightening is they don’t seem to understand the purpose of the women’s ministry at all, which is about empowerment, gender equality. All of that is in our federal constitution and then they come out with garbage like this at a time like this!”

A Malaysian government hotline for domestic abuse victims and vulnerable children has received nearly 2000 calls — more than double the usual numbers — since the lockdown began on March 18, local media reported.

Malaysia’s Women’s Aid Organisation told The Australian they had seen a 15 per cent rise in calls to their domestic violence hotline. “The government needs to get serious about being relevant to women,” said WAO executive director Sumitra Visvanathan, adding the group was also concerned about the government’s COVID-19 economic response package that emphasised the role of the “head of household”. “Our focus right now is on women who are living with abuse and women heads of household who are in economic crisis. We haven’t seen meaningful responses for either.”

The gaffe is the latest in a string of affronts from the Women’s Ministry since the new government was sworn in a month ago following the collapse of the Mahathir Mohamad-led administration. Deputy Minister Siti Zailah also sparked outrage last month for demanding Malaysian airline stewardesses dress in a sharia-compliant manner, just as 13,000 MAS employees were being asked to take a pay cut and unpaid leave because of the pandemic.

She was also forced to shut down her Twitter account over a post that read: “The likelihood of dying from the coronavirus is only 1 per cent, while the possibility of dying at any moment is 100 per cent. Let’s renew our faith and fear God.”

As of Thursday night, Malaysia had 3116 cases and 50 deaths.

Additional reporting: Chandni Vasandani