It is common knowledge that politics is a breeding ground for misogyny. The numerous problems and challenges women in politics face are jarringly different than our male counterparts; emancipation almost foreign and the idea of ‘social-inclusion and gender equality’ aren’t exactly top priorities in our society.

Male-dominated institutions have projected patriarchy and reinforced male chauvinism for decades and as a result, reinforcement of the notion that women are inferior in every aspect presents a wide variety of challenges for women pursue our rights.

The patriarchal atmosphere that surrounds our society is one that is shrouded in insecurity and misplaced male bravado, thus, when Gerakan’s legal and human rights bureau chief Baljit Singh proposed the idea to ‘field young, sexy multicultural women’ to ensure victory for the party, such chauvinist remarks proves just how retrogressive the ruling elite really are.

Interestingly enough, after receiving tremendous flak from members of public, civil society and politicians - Baljit has since declared that his remark was taken out of context - the usual uninspiring verbal escape route that is favoured by those who refuse to apologise.

After suffering major electoral losses, one would think that Gerakan would drop their arrogance and attempt to understand how present-day society functions. Women all across the divide have talents and the intellectual capacity that can help boost our nation’s economy but due to various present social constraints and prejudices, we still find ourselves getting into petty arguments and question jut how significant women’s roles are within a society.

Unfortunately, Baljit’s proposal does very little to ascertain confidence amongst Malaysian voters and hammers the final nail into the coffin of political irrelevance, hence, by doing so, such remarks further alienate Malaysian women voters and for the most part, any sound-minded Malaysian.

Patriarchy is dangerous as such beliefs undermine the ability of women - deducing that a woman’s role in politics is merely superficial and at best, provides tokenism at its lowest form; with the sole purpose to lull unassuming voters to cast their votes for a party that has lost the plot a long time ago.

But Gerakan is not alone, equally sinking in the quicksand of gender bias stereotyping are individuals and organisations who share the same distorted views pertaining gender roles. To them, women are often portrayed as weak, incapable of making smart decisions, incompetent and inferior. They subscribe to the idea that women are not born leaders and assume that our roles are best kept confined within the kitchen.