THE ROLE OF SUBSTANTIVE REPRESENTATION OF WOMEN PARLIAMENTARIANS IN THE 13TH MALAYSIAN PARLIAMENT

This study analysed the substantive role of women parliamentarians in the House of Representatives of the 13th Malaysian Parliament from 2013 to 2017. Previous studies conducted in Western countries have shown that women parliamentarians are more responsive to women's interests compared to male parliamentarians. However, women participation in the policy -making as legislators are low and has not achieved the quota that has been set up in Malaysia. The number of women parliamentarians do not reflect the number of women voters that are higher than the male voters. The aim of this study is to analyse the extent to which the role of women Parliamentarians represents women's issues using Hanna Pitkin's theory of representation and Anne Philips's politics of presence. This study uses a qualitative approach through content analysis to examine the Parliament Hansard and interviews with the women parliementarians. The result indicates that the women Parliamentarians formed 10.36% of members in the House of Representatives but they raised the women's issues higher than the male parliamentarians did. This shows that the women parliamentarians were able to impact policy -making even with a small number in Malaysia.