Women's and seniors' rights advocates have voiced mixed responses to the Cabinet reshuffle announced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim. While some noted that the appointment of a woman deputy minister in the Finance Ministry was a positive step towards women's representation in key ministries, others cautioned that the new appointments could be disruptive.
"We welcome Datuk Seri Dr Noraini Ahmad, Datuk Aiman Athirah Sabu and Lim Hui Ying in their new portfolios which have a strong gender focus and look forward to working with and supporting them in advancing gender equality," said founder of NGO Engender Consultancy Omna Sreeni-Ong. "Globally only 11% of finance ministers and central bank governors are women and so we laud the appointment of a female Deputy Finance Minister. "With the institution of gender-responsive budgeting (GRB) across government, we hope that with this appointment, there will be greater attention to accelerating the GRB process and in turn equitable distribution of fiscal resources to benefit all Malaysians," says Omn