She said the scope of sexual harassment under the bill needed to be widened so that it applied to everyone, regardless of employment status, including Parliament members.

“We need to impose a duty on organisations to prevent and address sexual harassment.

“In future, if there are any sexist remarks made in Parliament, we can help the (Dewan Rakyat) Speaker deal with such remarks,” she said in a press conference hosted by the All-Women’s Action Society (Awam).

“This is as opposed to just letting off any MP who makes such remarks with just a retraction or apology,” she said.

The Joint Action Group for Gender Equality, Engender Consultancy and the Young Women Making Change group have called for the bill to be reviewed by the parliamentary select committee on women, children and social development affairs.

“We are presenting our concerns on the gaps in the bill in the form of a memorandum. We also want a public campaign calling for an urgent review of the bill,” said Awam programme officer Aisyah Nisa.

The women’s groups have also called on the public and the media to use the hashtag #ReviewTheBill on social media to urge lawmakers to make the bill more survivor-centric.

They want the following to be added to the bill:

• a comprehensive definition of sexual harassment to cover all its forms and context;
• a tribunal to receive and investigate sexual harassment complaints in a manner that is not only fast and affordable but also protects privacy, provides protection against victimisation, and provides a range of remedies (including compensation, rehabilitation and apology from the perpetrators);
• explicitly mandated commitment by organisations (including educational institutions) in the public and private sectors to prevent and address cases of sexual harassment, as well as create organisational awareness via policies, training and effective redress mechanisms.

On Dec 15, deputy women, family and community development minister Siti Zailah Yusoff tabled the bill in the Dewan Rakyat for its first reading.

The second reading is scheduled at the parliamentary sitting which began today.