Cover image via
New Straits Times
& Miera Zulyana/Malay Mail
Subscribe to our Telegram channel for our latest stories and breaking news.
The Women’s Aid Organisation (WAO) has revealed some concerning initial findings from a survey they conducted titled ‘Malaysian Public Attitudes and Perceptions Towards Violence Against Women (VAW)’.
The survey involved 1,000 Malaysian respondents, and the rights group said it is the first large-scale, nationally-representative study of the attitudes and perceptions towards VAW in the country.
Although the survey results demonstrate that overall, Malaysians know the physical and also non-physical forms of violence, it also found that many still undermine the complexity of the abuse.
Some findings show:
– More than half of Malaysians (53.3%) believe that domestic violence is a normal reaction of stress or frustration.
– 43% of respondents believe that a woman can make a man so angry that he hits her when he does not mean to.
– One third (30%) believe that women who flirt often are to blame for causing their partners to hit them out of jealousy.
– 26.5% of Malaysians believe that domestic violence is forgivable, if the perpetrator is so angry that they lose control.
Violence-endorsing attitudes are loosely defined as attitudes that justify, excuse, minimise VAW, or blame survivors for the violence perpetrated against them.
So while Malaysians can identify the violence in issues surrounding sexual harassment and assault, rape, and child marriage, many exhibit attitudes that dismiss a victim’s experience.
For example, the survey found that 37.1% of respondents believe that it is not as hard to leave an abusive relationship, and 44.9% believe that women who stay with their abusive partners are also responsible for the ongoing abuse.
A high percentage of Malaysians also still believe antiquated rape myths, which WAO said is a worrying finding as it further reflects public support towards victim-blaming practices.
They found that:
– 83.4% believe that rape happens because of men’s uncontrollable sexual desires.
– 51.3% of respondents believe that rape happens because of how women dress.
Survey results indicated that 70.3% of respondents do not agree with child marriage under any and all circumstances.
Only approximately one tenth of Malaysians explicitly support child marriage, with the greatest support coming from older men aged 55 years and above.
Additionally, only a small percent of Malaysians demonstrated less knowledge towards cyber-harassment, stalking, and controlling behaviour.
11% of survey respondents do not consider preventing their partners from seeing their family or friends, or denying them access to finances, as forms of domestic violence.
The group listed nine recommendations in their report, which included increasing public understanding, actively challenging and changing messages that subtly sustain VAW, training frontline government officers to deal with violence-endorsing attitudes, and using political will to combat child marriages and female genital mutilations.
They also hope the government will continue conducting public attitude surveys towards VAW like theirs every few years to track the progression and regression of Malaysian attitudes.
1. WOMEN’S AID ORGANISATION (WAO)
24-hour
Contact: +603-30008858
SMS/WhatsApp: +6018-9888058
Website | Facebook | Twitter
2. ALL WOMEN’S ACTION SOCIETY (AWAM)
Weekdays (9.30am – 4.30pm)
Contact: +603-78770224
WhatsApp: +6016-2284221 | +6016-2374221
Email: [email protected]
Website | Facebook | Twitter
3. WOMEN’S CENTRE FOR CHANGE PENANG (WCC PENANG)
Weekdays (9am – 5pm)
Contact: +604-2280342 | +604-3988340
WhatsApp: +6011-31084001 | +6016-4390698
Email: [email protected]
Website | Facebook | Twitter
4. TALIAN KASIH
24-hour
Contact: 15999
WhatsApp: +6019-2615999
Email: [email protected]
Website | Facebook
5. TELENISA LEGAL AID CLINIC
Weekdays (8am – 10pm)
Contact: +6012-8123424
WhatsApp: +6012-8123424
Email: [email protected]
Facebook | Twitter
6. BUDDY BEAR CHILDLINE
Daily (12pm – 12am)
Contact: 1800-18-2327