BN will continue to champion the cause of women
KUALA LUMPUR, April 24 (Bernama) -- Barisan Nasional (BN) will continue to ensure that the struggle to elevate the integrity of Malaysian women is maintained, said BN chairman Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak tonight.
The Prime Minister who made a surprise appearance at the event "Wanita Ratu Hati Negaraku" at the Putra World Trade Centre (PWTC) here gave the commitment in his brief speech where he also expressed appreciation to the Malaysian women.
"I just want to say that on behalf of the BN government, whatever was contained in the BN manifesto for the 14th General Election (GE14) showed that women were not only close to the heart of the nation but also formed a strong pillar of the country, " he said.
The Prime Minister emphasised that BN would ensure that Malaysian women could play a more meaningful role as a mother, wife and career women.
In the recent BN manifesto announced by Najib, 74 out of 364 initiatives were on and/or women-related programmes, including 25 tailored for the group.
Among them, BN is committed to ensure 30 per cent women representation in the Dewan Negara through amendments to the Federal Constitution.
"BN will make sure more women will have the opportunity to get promoted, (providing more) facilities for women entrepreneurs to look for sustenance and the opportunity for women to become leaders," he said.
Present at the event was his wife, Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor.
The event, themed "Wanita Bahagia, Wanita Berjaya" (happy women, successful women), seeks to bring forth BN's initiative in its GE14 manifesto which touches on women. It also serves as a roll-on event about the importance of women as mentioned in the manifesto.
At the event, Wanita BN chief Tan Sri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil explained the plans by the coalition to empower and elevate Malaysian women.
Based on statistics, nearly 50 per cent or 15.3 million out of 31.7 million Malaysians are women.
When announcing the BN manifesto on April 7, the prime minister outlined 14 key thrusts that began with the focus on women and mothers, as the year 2018 was declared the Year of Women's Empowerment.
Najib also pointed out BN's commitment to empower women as wives, mothers, children and working women to allow them to balance their roles and responsibilities.
The manifesto also mentioned the objective of producing thousands of professional and successful women in corporate, civil service, politics and leadership.
-- BERNAMA
