On March 16, 2026, the All-Party Parliamentary Group, Malaysia on Gender Equality (APPGM-GE), in partnership with the Inter Pares programme[1], hosted a virtual exchange titled ‘Building Modern and Inclusive Parliaments: A Global Exchange on Gender-Sensitive Parliament Assessments’.
Since 2009, Malaysia has formally set a target of achieving 30% women’s representation across Parliament, State Legislative Assemblies, and the Senate. Despite such national policy commitments, women currently make up only 13.6% of members of parliament (MPs) and the institution ranks 150 out of 182 parliaments in the world for women’s representation.
Addressing barriers to women’s participation in politics involves reforming democratic institutions, and the Parliament of Malaysia has already taken steps to become more gender-sensitive and inclusive. This includes the appointment of female Deputy Speakers, a new Standing Order to curb sexist remarks, the enactment of gender-responsive legislation, and the formation of a Select Committee on Women, Children and Community Development.
The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Gender Equality (APPGM-GE) was established in November 2025. Its remit is to conduct a gender-sensitive assessment of the parliament, make recommendations, develop an action plan, undertake gender audits of legislations, and facilitate knowledge exchange and capacity building.
The core of democratic legitimacy
The event reinforced that inclusive representation is a fundamental democratic requirement. As the Hon. Speaker Tan Sri Dato’ Dr. Johari bin Abdul noted in his address, “gender equality is not peripheral to democracy, but lies at the very heart of our legitimacy. Half of its population cannot credibly claim to represent the will of the people”.
Dr. Insa Ewert of the EU Delegation echoed this, pointing out that policies and laws are more effective when they are deliberated by people representing a wide variety of views, knowledge, and lived experiences. She added that the EU remains committed to gender equality and women’s empowerment worldwide, highlighting the European Commission’s recently adopted EU Gender Equality Strategy 2026-2030, which aims to expand equal opportunities across work, politics, and society.
APPGM-GE Chairperson Dato' Sri Doris Sophia anak Brodi opened the session by highlighting that "we gather not merely as Parliamentarians, but as architects of a more equitable future". She emphasised that the APPG is honoured to join the growing community of countries committed to “building parliaments that are not only gender aware, but truly inclusive and transformative”.
Insights on gender-sensitive parliamentary assessments from around the world
A gender-sensitive assessment is a stocktake of a parliament’s progress towards becoming a gender-sensitive parliament, looking at its rules, practices, culture, and outputs.
During the exchange, international experts stressed that assessments are continuous processes of evolution rather than isolated events.
Professor Sarah Childs, an internationally-renowned expert on gender-sensitive parliaments from the University of Edinburgh, pointed out that leadership is critical to transforming institutions. She argued that true reform requires “examining the formal rules of the house, as well as the informal ways of working, that often reflect the preferences, the privileges of those who are already present, and not necessarily the best ways of working.”
Mariana Duarte of the Inter-Parliamentary Union highlighted the importance of transparency and public accountability, noting that when an assessment is made public, “if it's known, people ask ‘What's next, what are you doing about it?’”.
Lessons from Scotland and Ireland
Parliamentary leaders from Europe then shared experiences of their own parliamentary assessments.
The Rt. Hon. Alison Johnstone of the Scottish Parliament observed that women are immensely underrepresented in their parliaments, which is important “particularly when we're seeing such distrust in some of our democratic institutions”.
She warned against complacency, asserting that “it's really important that we continue to formalise the change we want to see, because we've seen in the past that progress isn't linear. It cannot be taken for granted, we can quite easily slip backwards.”
Reflecting on the experience of the Irish Houses of the Oireachtas, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Officer Ann-Marie D'Souza illustrated the profound value of male allies by sharing the story of their former Ceann Comhairle (Speaker). She recalled, "Seán Ó Fearghaíl took a good look around [himself], and thought that the Parliament that he was leading wasn't representative of the diversity of the country". She added that the former Comhairle was a great champion of gender equality, using his experience as a senior politician to reflect and drive the initiative forward.
This global exchange provided the Parliament of Malaysia with a strong foundation of international knowledge and practical advice as it embarks on its gender-sensitive assessment. Inter Pares, the European Union’s global project to strengthen the capacity of parliaments worldwide, implemented by International IDEA, is happy to be supporting the APPGM-GE in this important work, as a continuation of the peer-to-peer partnership developed between 2019-2022.
[1] Inter Pares is the European Union’s global project to strengthen the capacity of parliaments worldwide, implemented by International IDEA. The programme develops peer-to-peer partnerships between EU national parliaments and partner parliaments across the globe.