Gender mainstreaming in Malaysia: A conceptual inquiry

Gender mainstreaming was introduced internationally in 1995 during The Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing. Although previous studies prove that various gender mainstreaming operational approaches have been implemented by the associated countries, the operation has been defined differently based on each study. Previous researchers claimed that gender mainstreaming was the best measure to achieve gender equality but the main problem is the right definition for gender mainstreaming. Failure to arrive at the right definition for gender mainstreaming is due to inability to translate the gender concept due to lack of expertise in tackling the ambiguity of the gender concept. Since gender mainstreaming is quite new in Malaysia’s policy context this study fucussed on the various definitions proposed by previous local and international researchers and made an attempt to suggest definitions that were capable of clarifying the gender mainstreaming concept in Malaysia. Based on the overall study, it was found that previous studies might be divided into three main perspectives in assessing gender mainstreaming concept, namely, process, strategy and approach. However, in the Malaysian case, gender mainstreaming appeared to have been mainly redefined as a process.