International Development Priorities & National Realities: The Case of Child Marriage in Malaysia
The Department of Gender Studies Speakers' Series invites you to a presentation by Nicole Helwig, Child Rights Advocate and Non-Profit Manager.
Former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan stated there is no tool for development more effective than the empowerment of women. The promotion of gender equality has become a priority of international development, with ample evidence to suggest that investing in women is key to reducing global poverty. Since the Millennium Declaration in 2000, UN Member states have set their sights on achieving eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015. The practice of child marriage is seen as an obstacle to achieving those goals with negative impacts on the health, education and economic and political participation of women and girls. In this talk, I will examine child marriage in Malaysia to highlight the challenges of transforming international policy into concrete change at the national level. I will address how the phenomenon manifests itself in different Malaysian communities; social constructs and legal structures that underpin the practice; and civil society engagement with the issue, in particular by the womens rights and childrens rights movements. Importantly, I will present the issues against the backdrop of current Malaysian politics and the reception of perceived Western pressures in this middle income nation.