Dr Wendy Smith says Southeast Asian women enjoy greater opportunities and remuneration than Western women.

Despite stereotypes about women in Asian societies, they are proving an important resource for growing Asian economies, as Sandra Bucovaz reports.

Forget about the notion of Southeast Asian women being a subservient class. These women are starting to show up their Western counterparts with their increasing prominence in the corporate world, politics and education.

It is not a new phenomenon, but globalisation is providing more opportunities to promote women in Southeast Asia to positions of power and influence on the basis of their qualifications. Education and the availability of cheap domestic help are facilitating the movement.

While the empowerment of women varies from country to country, depending on socioeconomic and cultural factors, there is a growing army of women from countries like Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Indonesia, and increasingly Thailand and Vietnam, who are recognised worldwide for their achievements both in their homelands and in the West.

Successful women in Southeast Asia enjoy greater equality in terms of opportunities and remuneration than their Western counterparts, according to two Monash academics, Dr Wendy Smith, director of Monash's Centre of Malaysian Studies, and Dr Susan Blackburn, senior lecturer in politics and social inquiry.

Women are gaining tertiary qualifications, in their own countries and overseas, and jostling with their male counterparts for the top posts. Ethnic Chinese, well known for their business acumen, also figure prominently.

Dr Smith and Dr Blackburn believe education, together with cheap domestic help and extended family support, enabled these women to pursue demanding careers as well as fulfil their roles as wives and mothers. In fact, educated women with good incomes are considered very desirable marriage partners in the emerging consumer societies of Southeast Asia.

Educated women are an important resource, given the huge demand for local professionals in the corporate, manufacturing and services sectors ­ a demand which has been fuelled by the economic miracles of Asia, the export-led booms and the growing presence of multinationals.

At Monash University's Malaysia campus, the number of female student enrolments is increasing. Not only does this reflect the growth of the young campus, it also indicates the level of interest in tertiary education among young women.

Dr Catherine Yule, a lecturer in environmental management at Monash Malaysia, said that more than 70 per cent of science students studying biotechnology and environmental management were females.

Monash Malaysia's senior marketing manager, Mr Stephen Ng, noted that the younger generation of parents in Malaysia consider their sons and daughters to be equal, provided they performed well in their studies. "Girls are more receptive to pursuing careers in engineering and business than their grandparents. They can be business women or corporate leaders like their male counterparts," he said.

Dr Blackburn also noted that in the Philippines, female students outnumbered their male counterparts in business studies. "Women from the Philippines are known for being articulate and confident. It is considered to be natural for women to be involved in business," she said.

Dr Smith added: "There is an understanding in Southeast Asia that women are not going to get married, fall pregnant and then leave. There is excellent domestic back-up available, allowing women to return to work soon after childbirth to pursue their careers. Cheap domestic labour and extended family kinship are tremendous advantages."

The extended family provides the support necessary for women to work because of the tradition of supporting relatives financially. "The families want these young couples to get ahead so they can share in the gains," Dr Smith said.

And according to Dr Blackburn, the availability of affordable domestic help also made gender relations much easier between couples: "There are fewer arguments about who should do what around the home ...  the chores simply get passed on to the paid help."

A new middle class

In Malaysia, the New Economic Policy of the 1970s and 1980s has created a new middle class because of the transition of rural-based wage earners to the industrial sector and professional classes.

"The first-generation middle class is not shy about their visible consumerism status in the form of expensive cars, jewellery, furniture and house renovations. With couples, the wages of both the husband and wife are needed to support such a lifestyle," Dr Smith said.

She also noted the misconceptions about restrictions on Muslim women. "Muslim women are not disadvantaged as long as they observe the rules of Islam, such as wearing modest clothing. Western women feminists get caught up in the symbolism of things like the veil, and don't look at the reality," she said.

		To find out more on Monash University Malaysia, one of Monash's many international study opportunities, visit the website at www.monash.edu.my/