Fearless and passionate, Ivy Josiah has been a ferocious force of change.
She’s a fighter, a changemaker, and a pioneer whose hard-won battles have left behind a society that’s safer and fairer for women.
For almost two decades, Josiah, 69, helmed the Women’s Aid Organisation (WAO), Malaysia’s first shelter for victims of domestic violence. Since 1982, it has been a safehaven for women and children who have suffered from abuse, providing them with counselling, support, and a place to stay.
Josiah has always put herself on the frontlines of the battle against gender discrimination. She’s been a vocal champion of equality and justice for women – and her words have translated into action.
She was instrumental in pushing for legislative and policy reforms in Malaysian laws to protected abused women and combat domestic violence.
One of her milestone moments was the passing of the Domestic Violence Act (1994). When nothing was done two years after that, Josiah and other activists demonstrated against the delay in gazetting the Domestic Violence Act.
Despite leaving WAO in December 2014, she continues to be a voice for women’s rights. Josiah has had stints on international women’s boards including the Asia Pacific Forum on Women, and the International Women’s Development Agency.
And she now still volunteers with WAO, working behind the scenes to raise funds and support the social work department.
In recent years, she’s also blazed new trails with her peers.
In 2021, Josiah teamed up with leaders from 14 Malaysian women’s organisations to spearhead Malaysia’ first Women’s Tribunal. This gave 26 women a chance to present before a panel of judges the discrimination and violations of their rights they had experienced.
The findings were later published with the aim of helping effect change, raise awareness on cases of gender discrimination in Malaysia and its impact on women, and also serve as a tool for NGOs to tap on when fighting for policy and legislative changes.
Q&A with Ivy Josiah, Women’s rights activist & Former executive director of Women’s Aid Organisation
What did you want to do when you were young?
From very young, I was very clear that I wanted to be a teacher. I was inspired by the teachers in Convent Bukit Nanas, who were highly motivating and very creative in the way they taught us. I wanted to be a teacher because I wanted to spread that joy. So I did my diploma of education and I had been a teaching in both government school and private college. In 1995 after 12 years of teaching, I decided I needed to change career. I was the first executive secretary and went on to become the first executive director of Women’s Aids Organisation. I became a volunteer with WAO as early as 1981, but it never occurred to me that I could actually work full-time and earn a living with a NGO. My peers and pioneer members of WAO were Ambiga Sreenevasan, Rashidah Abdullah and the late Datuk Noor Farida.
What were the biggest challenges you faced as the Executive Director of WAO?
In the early years, the challenges were trying to convince people that domestic violence existed as many people did not believe that Malaysian women were being beaten up by their husbands. They thought it happened only elsewhere as we have our Asian culture and values. But this was the reason why we had domestic violence. Asian tradition upholds patriarchy. The man is the boss at home. You listen to your husband, your father and your elder brother. WAO published its first research in 1995, a report titled. Battered women in Malaysia: prevalence, problems and public attitudes. Among the findings were that 1 out of 10 women faced domestic violence and it was acceptable for a husband to beat his wife if she was unfaithful.
What has been your journey with WAO?
Today, we don’t need to convince people that domestic violence happens. We have
a Domestic Violence Act and the Ministry of Women that acknowledges that violence against women is real
At WAO, we want to address gender inequality on the whole. Back in 1985, we formed a Joint Action Group against violence against women. In the decades down the road, we realised we needed to widen our perspective, we needed to look at inequality in every aspect of our lives; not just in the family but in employment, in economics, in political participation.
A woman’s ethnicity and religion, where she lives and what language she speaks all contribute to the discrimination she faces.
WAO is well known for many issues we took up and over the years, we had evolved and expanded. We worked with other human right groups, compiled reports on women’s status in the political and economic arenas. We also looked into the issue of foreign wives and formed a migrant working group. We even started looking at freedom of religion, and with Sisters in Islam, we formed a coalition called Article 11.
There are many important lessons that I learned with the women’s movement, including standing up and holding the authority accountable.
So what have you been involved with since leaving WAO?
After so many years, I wanted to do something different and not strike up another memorandum. So when I retired at 60, two things happened. One is I started approaching advocacy in a more innovative and more creative way; and at the same time, I was invited to join some international women’s boards. My work had become more international and global but I did not turn away from what’s happening in Malaysia. I began initiating different ways of advocating to raise public awareness on VAW. I worked with Nandini Balasubramaniam, an influencer who has a wide outreach. We created six videos on topics such as domestic violence, dating violence, rape and child marriage. We thought it’s important to educate the public as there is no nationwide public education on violence against women.
In 2021, I urged women’s groups to create their own court: a Women’s Tribunal to Reimagine Justice. Over two days — 27 and 28 November 2021, 26 witnesses presented compelling personal testimonies before a panel of three judges, about the discrimination and violations of their rights that they have experienced. The main objective was to raise awareness, and seek justice for themselves and every woman in Malaysia.
More recently, you have been helping WAO in fundraising?
WAO was facing a lot of challenges including lack of fund. So I went back to being involved with the organisation, not in a decision making position, but as an active volunteer. So yes I am helping them in fundraising, and I’m also involved in providing oversight to the refuge and the social work services, to make sure that the social work department is supported and making sure social work services are available to all to all women in Malaysia.
You have been described as fearless, passionate and a natural leader. So how will you describe yourself?
Firstly, I am a feminist. I am passionate and idealistic. I’m still very hopeful. People say I am courageous, but I would say that I recognize my fears, and I want to work towards overcoming them. I think courage doesn’t mean you’re not afraid. I lived through an era where people could be taken away in the middle of the night. This had influenced the way I look at discrimination and the authority. Now, I hold every government accountable. Freedom of expression and the right to assembly are very important. I know I am not doing this alone because I have such amazing like-minded feminist friends. People have so much courage today. We are no longer alone as civil society has made it happened. I must mention Bersih and Hindraf and Reformasi, all of them were people’s movements which I am passionate about.
What can we do as Malaysians to promote gender equality and what advice would you give to young women?
All of us can do a lot more. It begins with your personal life and in your own space. The problem is we are living in the age of social media, which can be very toxic against women. I am calling all Malaysians to stand up to sexist jokes, call up sexism and do not tolerate misogyny. Stand up to sexism to those who say vile things about women or objectify women’s bodies. Sexism is real. It’s very harmful and divisive.
I am happy to see young women today are getting more involved. They form their own organisations and they have taken initiatives in many issues surrounding sexuality and sexism. I don’t have any advice to give, I just hope Malaysians will do whatever they can in their own capacity to fight gender injustice. Just be involved.
On a national level, we need ensure that all the structures and institutions in every ministry works towards gender equality in their policies. It is important that the implementers understand what gender equality and gender sensitivity is about. We should have constant reminders and constant training and constant review of policies.
What inspires and motivates you to continue doing what you’re doing?
I think it is in my DNA (laughs). I just can’t be indifferent. I still get very upset and angry when I see injustice. But I don’t allow my anger to swell into nothingness as I make sure there’s some form of action.
What would you tell your younger self?
Don’t be bothered about what people say about your body. When I was younger, I was very bothered about any remarks about my body or why I’m not married. One should learn to love yourself and appreciate yourself. You are enough, that’s what I tell myself.
