Minister Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri says a proposed Gender Parity in Political Representation Bill to increase women’s political participation remains under study.
KUALA LUMPUR: A proposal to draft a Gender Parity in Political Representation Bill to increase women’s participation in politics to 30 per cent is still under consideration.
However, Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri acknowledged that implementing the proposal would not be easy and would require the support of political leaders.
“We will not give up and will continue our efforts. We are looking at comparisons with other countries and how they have implemented women-only representation or reserved seats for women.
“But we also need the agreement and buy-in of political leaders. If political leaders do not give women this opportunity, it will remain difficult for us to achieve the target,” she said during a question-and-answer session in the Dewan Rakyat today.
She was responding to a supplementary question from Datuk Seri Dr Zaliha Mustafa (PH-Sekijang) on the proposed Bill, which had been raised previously to increase women’s representation in politics to 30 per cent.
To a question from Datuk Seri Saifuddin Abdullah (PN-Indera Mahkota) on the implementation status of the National Women’s Policy (DWN) 2025-2030, Nancy said its progress was monitored twice a year through a monitoring dashboard to ensure that initiatives to empower women in the economy, leadership, safety and well-being achieved their intended objectives.
She said progress on the implementation of initiatives under the DWN 2025-2030 would subsequently be reported to the National Women and Family Council and key meetings at the ministry level.
“Currently, all initiatives under the Women’s Development Action Plan (PTPW) 2025-2030 are at various stages of implementation. The government aims to ensure that the planned implementation of the DWN delivers tangible benefits to women,” she said.
Nancy said a mid-term evaluation would be conducted in 2028 to assess the effectiveness of the DWN’s implementation and identify areas for improvement.
To a supplementary question from Saifuddin on strategies to increase women’s participation in politics, Nancy said the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry (KPWKM) had introduced the ‘Perantis’ programme to give women opportunities to demonstrate their talents and leadership potential.
She said the programme benefited 5,369 women in 2024 and 2025 through training and mentoring involving 125 prominent women. As of August 2026, another 3,375 participants had received guidance from 78 prominent women.
Nancy said women’s representation in the public sector’s top management had also improved, reaching 39.4 per cent as of December 2025, exceeding the 30 per cent target for decision-making positions.