National Council of Women’s Organisations (NCWO) chairman Sharifah Hapsah Sahabuddin said she hopes GE15 would be a turning point and that “tokenism” would no longer be practised.

Sharifah described “tokenism” as the act of fielding women candidates in random seats merely to show it was pushing for better representation.

She said that while some political parties have been vocal about greater women representation, including promising that at least 30% will be female candidates, those promises have yet to be fulfilled.

“We are saying if 30% women are fielded, it should translate to 30% women in the legislature. That means we want the seats to be winnable seats,” she said in an interview on Astro Awani last night.

Which is why NCWO has formed a group called Pantau PRU 15 to keep an eye on women representation in GE15, she said.

“We are going to see what the political parties are doing to ensure the (push for greater) women’s participation is upheld,” she said.

Sharifah said Pantau PRU 15 will vet the manifestos of the parties for gender-inclusive policies, as well as keep track of the number of women fielded, and their seats to ensure they are not fielded in unwinnable seats.

“We will get experts from Pantau PRU 15 to analyse the seats as they will know which seats are safe for whom. If we see women being fielded in seats that are not winnable, we will hold (the parties) accountable.”

She also said the group wanted competent women with a good track record to be fielded instead of “proxies who could be controlled”.

Ummu Atiyah Zakuan, a senior lecturer from Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM), said that based on her research, the public is now more receptive towards women leaders.

“The preliminary results of my research show that women leaders are more acceptable to the younger generation, as well as overall,” she said.

Ummu, who is also a member of Pantau PRU 15, said the group is focusing on creating awareness among voters that Malaysia needs more women as leaders.