ADUN SPEAKS | Zahid's daughter is wrong, women 'boleh'

ADUN SPEAKS | From childhood, girls and boys are taught to adhere to certain social guidelines – girls are always given dolls to play with and told to look pretty, while boys are allowed to engage in more physical activities like climbing trees and playing football.

This type of social conditioning occurs everywhere, and for most, it has become part of the norm. While human reproduction relies, for the most part, heavily on our wombs yet policies regarding reproduction health and the choices we want to make may sometimes be denied or brushed aside as irrelevant. The fear of being ostracised, made fun of or labelled as different may often shape how we think – whether we realise it or not.

The internalisation of patriarchy is best described as a system of beliefs where women and girls accept damning stereotypes and myths to be true.

Society – both men and women - is quick to...