Walby's (1986, 1990, 2002) theoretical framework appears relevant to the present research, considering the structures of private and public patriarchy are still prevailing in Malaysian society. Her interpretation suggests that patriarchy changes its forms due to changes in socio- economic and socio-political structures of society. Although Walby's (1986, 1990, 2002) theory is primarily located in modern Europe, the structural social differences between modern Europe and Malaysian society makes her theory partially applicable and also has the potential to explain the scarcity of women senior managers within both public and private sector organisations. In Chapter Two, the contextual material considered the degree and form of patriarchy that Malaysian women experience in their access to the public worlds of work, the state and civil society, which portrays a change in the form of patriarchy. In applying the theory of patriarchy to the Malaysian context, it would be helpful to point out some mismatches between Walby's (1990) theory and the current social structure of Malaysian society.
The most important difference in terms of Walby's (1990) theory, is that the shift from private patriarchy to public patriarchy may not yet be fully visible in Malaysia or may have a different form than that visible in the West. Walby (1990) asserts that in today’s Britain, paid work is more important than family and household, which has decreased in its importance in determining the lives of career women. This case is almost opposite to where the form of patriarchy is in Malaysia. Private patriarchy remains powerful in the context of Malaysian society given the first lessons of patriarchy are learnt in the family where the head of the family is a man as a father (Ariffin, 1997; Ahmad, 1998; Mashral and Ahmad, 2010). This shows that men are still dominant, and men’s involvement in domestic chores is still much lower than that of women due to the patriarchal system (see Ariffin, 1997; Abdullah, Noor and Wok, 2008; Abu Bakar, 2014). The household production plays a more important role in gender relations than paid employment, with men’s position as primary breadwinner giving them greater decision- making power in their family.
The traditional gendered division of domestic chores makes it difficult for women to combine motherhood and a career as women carry out the majority of household chores and childcare, while men retain the rice-winner role (Ahmad, 1998; Abdullah Yusof, 2015). The distribution of tasks reflects how women have been socialised for their roles and responsibilities in the family,
with a focus on the domestic chores, whilst men are responsible for social activities outside the private arenas (Ong, 1990; Raja Mamat, 1991). The secondary status of women is affected by men’s perceptions, which are drawn from traditional and societal expectations that have prevented them from assisting their wives because they might receive negative impressions from their relatives and friends (Abdullah, 1987). The society will also look down on any man who disregards or fails to fulfil his responsibilities as the head of the family (Ariffin, 1997; Ahmad, 1998; Mashral and Ahmad, 2010), which explicates that the patriarchal issue not only arises at the family level but also at the society level as a whole in Malaysia.
Moreover, gender inequalities are often derived within the social domain and women’s daily activities are still constrained by cultural and religious values (Healy, Bradley and Forson, 2011). Men and women need to ensure that wives are not dominant over their husbands as this is still not accepted amongst the Malaysian society (Abdul Malik and Ismail, 1996; Harun, 1993). As a multiethnic country, it should be highlighted that the ways in which Malays practice their religiosity are distinctive when compared to other ethnicities, such as Chinese and Indians (Fenton, 1999; Fontaine and Richardson, 2005; Amin and Alam, 2008). For instance, Amin and Alam (2008) mention that when Malay women act according to Islamic teachings and please their husbands and children, they will gain the blessings of Allah (God). They believe that a woman will not be a good mother and wife if she abandons her primary responsibilities in the family. Although women have made some accommodations between their position and religious beliefs, they still hold strongly to their roles in the family and possess particular qualities to be obedient wives and good mothers. This perception remains strong especially among Malay women even though their status and position have changed in terms of public patriarchy (Hassan, 1998; Ghani et al., 2017)(Ghani et al., 2017). Women’s roles as mothers and wives are still maintained and they are often portrayed as secondary to and standing behind their husbands (Wei, 2011; Cooke, 2010). Husbands have more say when it comes to a major family decision and wives would often become followers.
Several studies in both the West and Malaysia have found that men’s participation in domestic chores reduces their wives’ burden to some extent and helps them to enhance their career development to the senior levels (e.g. Hashim and Omar, 2004; Ezzedeen and Ritchey, 2008; Beutell and Greenhaus, 1983; Ruderman et al., 2002; Komarraju, 2006; Marcinkus et al., 2007; Bures et al., 2011; Juhari et al., 2012).
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or instance, Ezzedeen and Ritchey, (2008) assert that that husbands’ support is the most cited reason why executive women succeed. Sullivan (2006) asserts that the amount of men’s involvement in the private sphere in Britain has increased steadily between the 1960s and the 1990s. Men whose wives earn their own income have made greater adjustments in their attitudes at home and become involved in household tasks because their wives contribute to the family income (Rapoport and Rapoport, 1976; Gilbert, 1994; Brewater and Padavic, 2000; Sullivan, 2006; Cha and Thebaud, 2009). It seemsthat there is a negotiation between husband and wife about their roles to conform with their lifestyle, but commitments to the family continue to be under women’s accountability alone.
The universal theory of patriarchy has certain limitations related to the inability to provide an appropriate explanation of the differential experiences of diverse groups of women around the world, particularly women from different ethnic groups, the latter being missing from Walby's (1990) work. Malay women are likely to have more children than Chinese or Indian women (see Hirschman and Aghajanian, 1980; Abdullah Yusof, 2015; Chua, Mathews and Loh, 2016; Tan and Tey, 1994). Given that support from their spouses is limited, in order to care for their small children and focus on the family, many women in Malaysia tend to sacrifice their careers by limiting their career goals and opting flexible working arrangements because they want to spend more time with the families (Hutchings, 2000; Subramaniam et al., 2010). Some Chinese working women become full-time housewives to fulfil their domestic responsibilities, particularly childcare, and thus they are still seen as more responsible for their domestic sphere than Chinese men (Abdullah Yusof, 2015). Haque (2003) asserts that the Indian women’s obligation and priority must be given to the husband, just like the Malay and Chinese women. Although Haque's (2003) research findings are based on the experiences of women in India, it could be assumed that these understandings are comparable to Indian women’s situation in Malaysia. Also, it is argued that many of the domestic or home values among the Malays have similarities with the Indians’ (Selvarajah and Meyer, 2008). This problem, indirectly, shows that the investigation on career experiences of Indian women in Malaysia is quite limited. Nevertheless, research on women managers in Malaysia conducted by Omar and Davidson (2004) reveals that remaining single or being married but childless are options that many Malaysian women may not be willing to take. In this sense, patriarchy does not provide a full description of the intersecting oppressions that occur across gender especially regarding some of the ethnic differences that seem to be widening among women as well as between women and men.
Gender discrimination is often camouflaged by the rules and regulations directing society, which have their roots in the traditional male-dominant society that underlies social structures (Walby, 2009). This means that gendered assumptions about appropriate work for men and women, and the impact of women’s domestic responsibilities, continue to shape the gendered division of professional work (Mohamad, 2010). It should be highlighted that women’s subordination, which has direct roots in traditional societal settings and attitudes, has been perpetuated by the laws that have been incorporated in the societal system. This is identified as the main force that needed change in the patterns of patriarchal societal settings, leading to equal opportunity policies within the Malaysian labour market. This change seems relevant in one of Walby's (1990) pillars: the State. Thus, in Malaysia, the empowerment projects of women are initiated by the governmental commitments to improve the status of women in the labour force. Yet, some aspects of the Malaysian situation are not covered in her analysis such
as extended family dimension, the recruitment of domestic help and women’s experience from different ethnic backgrounds.