Create Opportunities for

Yourself!:
Neoliberal Postfeminism in a
Malaysian Womens Magazine

Melissa Yoong
The University of Nottingham
Malaysia Campus

Malaysia GDP
USD Billion

Global Gender Gap Index

Rankings
2006

2008

2010

2012

2014

60
70
80

Global Gender
Gap Index

90
100

110

Economic
Participation &
Opportunity

120
Source: World Economic Forum

Economic Participation &

Opportunity
The Glass Ceiling:
Female Top Managers: 9%

Low Labour Force Participation Rate: 47%

Source: World Economic Forum

Economic Participation
& Opportunity

Source: TalentCorp Malaysia

Economic Participation &

Opportunity

Source: TalentCorp Malaysia

Aims
Part of a larger study seeking to:
Expose of the gendered discourses and
sensibilities in Malaysia that:
maintain the glass ceiling, and
return professional women to the home
Discourses: ways of seeing the world

Gendered discourses: Discourses that

position men and women in different ways
(Sunderland, 2004)

Aims
Examine the discourses of career in
Malaysian media targeting a female audience
Society & Culture Discourse

Explore how female text producers in the

Malaysian media preserve gender hegemony

Data: Oct 2012-Sept 2013

HerWorld

StarClove

(monthly
womens
lifestyle
magazine)

Advice
articles

(weekly
womens
section in
newspaper)

Capital
FM

(Malaysias
only womens
radio station)

Key Gendered Discourses

Women Owe Success to Hard Work

The Lacking Woman
Women Can Have It All
Women Cant Have It All
Busy Mother Juggling Work and Home
Work as Passion
Work as Drudgery
Motherhood as Ultimate Fulfilment

Neoliberal Postfeminism
Success is within reach, if women work
hard & overcome internal barriers
Gender equality has been achieved
Individual success over collective gains
Individualism, liberation, & autonomy
Distanced from notions of socio-political
constraints & disadvantage
(Gill, 2007)

Extract 1
Women must equip themselves with what it
takes to successfully overcome challenges and
be pragmatic in life. In todays Malaysia,
gender is not an issue.

Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz, former Minister of

International Trade and Industry

(HerWorld June 2013, Who runs the world?)

Extract 2
Perseverance and the fact that I really love
what I did helped a lot. Women need to be
confident about their abilities and less critical
of themselves.

Lina Tan, award-winning film and television

producer

(HerWorld June 2013, Who runs the world?)

Extract 3
In fact, the main reasons that hinder women
from reaching their highest potential are family
commitments, maternity benefits, non-existent
career flexibility and the lack of practice of
equal opportunity in the workforce.
However, we shouldnt let it stop us from
aspiring to achieve greatness. Take it from
these women on how they beat the odds to get
to the top.
(HerWorld September 2013, Top of the world)

Extract 4
Staying updated and relevant is crucial when
women go on a break ... In my opinion, the
main reason that women face difficulties in
returning to work is not because of gender or
status, but the lack of continuous learning. Its
important for women who are on a break to
keep their knowledge relevant and skill sets
upgraded.

(HerWorld September 2013, Top of the world)

Extract 4
Staying updated and relevant is crucial when
women go on a break ... In my opinion, the
main reason that women face difficulties in
returning to work is not because of gender or
status, but the lack of continuous learning. Its
important for women who are on a break to
keep their knowledge relevant and skill sets
upgraded.

(HerWorld September 2013, Top of the world)

Extract 5
Till today, it is still predominantly a womans
role to manage her family and household. Our
determination to have a better work-life
balance is the reason why women are more
than willing to accept a lower pay package.

(HerWorld February 2013, Are You Still Underpaid?)

Extract 5
... employers are willing to pay a premium and
a higher salary package but they also expect
performance and results on a shorter runway
in return, which is something that it is not to
(sic) easy to do when youve a family waiting
at home for you to tend to them. The only way
out is to work that runway as hard as the men.

(HerWorld February 2013, Are You Still Underpaid?)

Extract 5
... employers are willing to pay a premium and
a higher salary package but they also expect
performance and results on a shorter runway
in return, which is something that it is not to
(sic) easy to do when youve a family waiting
at home for you to tend to them. The only way
out is to work that runway as hard as the men.

(HerWorld February 2013, Are You Still Underpaid?)

Extract 6
List down the various things youve always
wanted to do but couldnt because of your
work schedule. Now go do them! If you can
afford it, take a long retreat at a spa or travel
the world. Sign up for new classes or go back
to school. Best of all, youll have time to spend
with your kids.

(HerWorld December 2012, Youre fired, now what?)

Extract 6
List down the various things youve always
wanted to do but couldnt because of your
work schedule. Now go do them! If you can
afford it, take a long retreat at a spa or travel
the world. Sign up for new classes or go back
to school. Best of all, youll have time to spend
with your kids.

(HerWorld December 2012, Youre fired, now what?)

Extract 6
List down the various things youve always
wanted to do but couldnt because of your
work schedule. Now go do them! If you can
afford it, take a long retreat at a spa or travel
the world. Sign up for new classes or go back
to school. Best of all, youll have time to spend
with your kids.

(HerWorld December 2012, Youre fired, now what?)

Conclusions
1. Mutually reinforcing & conflicting gendered
discourses
undermine womens professional
identities
encourage women to return to traditional
role of mother
construct neoliberal & postfeminist
narrative of self-determination & selfefficacy

Conclusions
2. Preserves gender hegemony in
sophisticated ways
synthetic sisterhood (Talbot 1992)
neoliberal & postfeminist notions of
freedom & choice

Selected References
Gill, R. (2007). Post-feminist media culture: Elements of a
sensibility. European Journal of Cultural Studies 10, 14766.
Sunderland, J. (2004). Gendered Discourses. Basingstoke:
Palgrave.

Talbot, M. (1992). A synthetic sisterhood: False friends in a

teenage magazine. In K. Hall, M. Bucholtz and B. Moonwomon
(Eds.) Proceedings of the Second Berkeley Women and
Language Conference (pp. 573-580). Berkeley: Berkeley
Women and Language Group.

Selected References
TalentCorp Malaysia (2016). Advancing Women In The
Workplace. Retrieved from www.talentcorp.com.my/facts-andfigures/advancing-women-in-the-workplace
Trading Economics (n.d.). Malaysia GDP. Retrieved from
http://www.tradingeconomics.com/malaysia/gdp
World Economic Forum (2015). The Global Gender Gap Report
2015. Retrieved from: http://reports.weforum.org/globalgender-gap-report-2015