Tuesday, 13 February 2018
Meera Samanther
Meera Samanther is a lawyer/activist and President of the Association of Women Lawyers Malaysia, is a proud advocate of women’s rights. Meera’s introduction to women’s rights came in 1995 when she joined the Women’s Aid Organisation (WAO) as a volunteer. She began by taking on groundwork such as bringing women to the shelter or the police station, handling their phone calls and helping with WAO programmes for women and children. Two years later, she was appointed secretary of the association and then to the board before eventually taking over as president. She also became a committee member of the Association of Women Lawyers (AWL) at that time.
AWL figures show that as of 2012, there were 9,631 lawyers in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor and 51% of them were women. As at February, there are 15,230 lawyers in Peninsular Malaysia of whom more than half are women.
Meera stepped down from her post in WAO in 2012 and became president of AWL. As president of AWL, Meera looks into the promotion of the rights, welfare and professional development of women lawyers and law graduates in Malaysia. Although she returned to practising law in 2000, she focuses mostly on pro bono work.
Her proudest achievement to date would be her involvement in the amendment to Article 8 (2) of the Federal Constitution in 2001 that prohibits gender discrimination.
Being a feminist, she says, means having to continually check oneself against the patriarchal thinking that is so ingrained in our nature.
“Articles and advertisements in the media stereotypically portray women as objects. Upon closer inspection, she says even the law itself is not as gender neutral as people perceive it to be. Existing laws, she says, are drafted based on male norms and standards, with women’s voices often left out of the discussion, in terms of making, interpreting and implementing the law.
Meera was first exposed to the concept of gendered law when she attended the Asia-Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development in 1988.
“The law is a double-edged sword – it can discriminate against or empower a woman. If you want to talk about change, we must look at the substance of the law, the culture of it and the structure. We hope to plant a seed of discontent among students to think about and develop a critical mindset towards the law,” she says.
Meera credits her husband, Lim Cheng Bock, who is also a lawyer, for his belief in her work. By doing so, he sets the right example for rest the of the family, she says.One’s feminism is most tested in everyday conversations and how you live your life, she says. Her passion for gender equality has inevitably rub
photo and story by: The ant daily
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