USM, PENANG, 2 July 2018 – “In the future, there will be no female leaders. There will just be leaders.”

This was said by the Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) Vice-Chancellor, Professor Datuk Dr. Asma Ismail, in quoting Sheryl Sandberg, the Facebook COO, in her opening speech, at the programme “An Evening with Rafidah” organised by the Centre for Research on Women and Gender (KANITA) USM with Harpswell Foundation here recently.

“While we aspire for leadership roles in different aspects of life to be filled equally by women and men, historical and contemporary data around the world still record a substantively low participation of women in decision-making positions, even as women around the world have equal access and achievement in education.

“For example, at present the students at public universities in Malaysia comprised of 70% females,” said Asma, who was the first female to be appointed to the post of Director-General of Education in the country and to be appointed twice as a Vice-Chancellor of two different local universities.

She further said that Malaysia also leads in encouraging the involvement of women in science. She also mentioned that as long as women remain level-headed, they can also succeed in their respective fields as leaders.

This was followed by introductory remarks of the featured speaker, Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz, given by the Wawasan Open University Pro-Chancellor and former Penang Chief Minister, Tan Sri Dr. Koh Tsu Koon.

He mentioned that they have served together previously in politics, and Rafidah is recognised as being the longest-serving former Minister of International Trade and Industry. She is currently the Director and Non-Executive Independent Chairperson of Air Asia X, as well as an avid golfer and a recently-certified diver.

As she began her talk, she stressed that there should not be any discrimination, physical or psychological, against women. In fact, she said that in Malaysia, there is no more ‘glass ceiling’ for women ‘to break’ in order to reach the top in their careers. The focus would need to be on the quality of performance, with gender being a non-issue.

Rafidah then said that there should be equality in opportunities. The same goes for nurturing competencies, whether for men or women. She listed the leadership qualities that leaders need to have. The qualities are:

• Having the integrity/honesty
• Doing what you say (and not being fork-tongued)
• Having the passion to commit and achieve targets (while giving the passion and enthusiasm to develop among others in the team)
• Be responsible and accountable (take the blame, share the credit)
• Have futureproof leadership qualities (able to lead and sustain for all times)
• Grounded (need to develop circle of influence from family outwards)
• Understand changes (current trends in society)
• Have a mindset promoting growth (to motivate and continue setting high standards)

Rafidah continued by saying, “It is important for a leader to take charge, and not just be in charge.” She suggested for individuals who want to lead to do a self-analysis using the SWOT method.

She ended her talk by saying that leadership is a quality that is recognised by those within your circle of influence. It is not about going through an election or to be contested. If you feel you qualify, then take the responsibility and do it well. Otherwise, allow others who are more qualified to become the leader.

The Harpswell ASEAN Programme in Women’s Leadership is a programme jointly organised by the USM KANITA and Harpswell Foundation, based in the USA. KANITA has been awarded a grant from Harpswell for the programme which would be run for two years, beginning 2017.

Both organisations share the aim of providing young women (in Southeast Asia) with the necessary skills and to inspire a new generation of women leaders to bring positive changes in society.

The programme was also attended by the founder of Harpswell Foundation, Professor Dr. Alan Lightman from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT); Director of KANITA, Professor Dr. Noraida Endut and participants from various ASEAN countries.

Text: Mazlan Hanafi Basharudin