Coronavirus quarantine murders and domestic violence mean Malaysian ministry’s sexist advice is no laughing matter

The Malaysian women’s affairs ministry putting the onus on wives to maintain harmony in the family during the coronavirus lockdown is particularly insidious given the rise in cases of violence against women worldwide

Alice Wu

Published: 6:30am, 6 Apr 2020

Why you can trust SCMP

Confirmed coronavirus cases crossed 1 million last week and most of the world remains under lockdown or practising social distancing. One of the best pieces of advice on how to cope is to keep getting “ready in the morning” – get out of bed, change out of our pyjamas and try to maintain a semblance of normality as much as possible.

When our days morph into night and night into day, and we lose count of how many days we’ve been living in our PJs, we are at risk of getting depressed. That’s no way to fight the plague.

However, it takes very little effort to turn well-intentioned advice into a political disaster – and that’s what happened with a series of public service announcements put out by the Malaysia’s Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development last week.

In the global fight against Covid-19, the ministry suggested women should dress up and wear make-up when working from home, refrain from sarcasm if they need help with household chores, avoid nagging their husbands and, instead, talk like the blue robot cat Doraemon, a popular Japanese anime character, to keep the peace at home.

One of the coronavirus campaign posters shared by Malaysia’s women’s affairs ministry. Photo: Twitter

Leaving aside why anyone would want their wife to sound like a robot cat, let’s try to get past the absurdity of these tips and the ensuing hilarity, and recognise the sinister thinking behind them. The most obvious is that the onus of “maintain[ing] a positive family relationship while working from home” – as the ministry claims to be its intention – lies with the wives. And nothing objectifies women like telling them to imitate a robot cat.

The ministry has since removed these misogynist posts and offered the classic “nonpology”: “We apologise if some of the tips we shared were inappropriate and touched on the sensitivities of some parties.”

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Well, I’m not sorry for my “sensitivities” because here are some harsh truths. A Malaysian government-run helpline for vulnerable people, which includes victims of domestic abuse, has reportedly seen the number of calls for help rise by more than 50 per cent since the beginning of the country’s March 18 lockdown. And the tips, no doubt, were issued, in response to that.

The government ministry is tasked with achieving gender equality, family development and a caring society in line with the country’s commitment to the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. So when it blames women for increased tensions at home during the pandemic, and its rationale is exactly the sort of poison that has sustained gender inequality and reinforces the abuse of women in the home, no one should be giggling like Doraemon.

There has been a surge in domestic violence worldwide. Lockdowns and social distancing are pushing families at risk over the edge. We are seeing a spate of “quarantine murders” and victims of domestic violence are forced to be with their perpetrators 24/7, with no chance of escape in the form of work or social gatherings.

Just last week, Britain recorded two cases of lockdown-related femicide. Since the beginning of France’s lockdown, domestic violence has risen 36 per cent, including two cases of femicide. The Australian prime minister has noted the alarming 75 per cent rise in Google searches for domestic violence help since the start of its lockdown.

According to Chinese activists, the enforced lockdown in China saw a tripling of the number of domestic violence cases reported to local police in February.

Activists hold photographs showing half the faces of victims of domestic violence during a protest in Bucharest on March 4 to draw attention to the lack of monitoring bracelets on the aggressors once a restraining order has been issued. Photo: AFP

Even in normal times, one in three women experience gender-based violence. While the United Nations and NGOs are calling for governments to step up measures to prevent such violence during the Covid-19 pandemic, the Malaysian government is telling women to stop nagging.

Researchers at Northwestern University, the University of Mannheim in Germany and the University of California, San Diego, have just put out a new paper examining the impact of Covid-19 on the economy and, right off the bat, the researchers pointed out that the pandemic will have “a disproportionate negative effect on women and their employment opportunities”.

This is the onslaught women now face.

Alice Wu is a political consultant and a former associate director of the Asia Pacific Media Network at UCLA

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