A Path To Equality In Malaysia

What Barriers Will  Malaysian Women Break Through Next?

Fozia Amanulla been accustomed to negotiating a deal with the pressure of millions of dollars during his career in the field of Islamic finance. Some things, though, she never used. For example, how certain man have refused to shake her hands, ignored her when she has spoken or refused to look at her across   a conference table.

At a meeting with a client in Saudi Arabia, where men and women are usually segregated in public life, she was the only woman in the building, the fact reinforced by the absence of toilets for women.

Ms. Fozia, one of the first woman to lead an Islamic bank in Malaysia, has no shortage of reminders that this industry, where investments are made in accordance with the principles of Islam is a male-dominated.

But while some women in the corners of the more conservative Islamic world is still fighting for the right to work outside the home in the booming Islamic finance sector, Malaysia multiplying the number of female faces.

And industry observers say it is a because of Malaysia's multicultural, women have made a major breakthrough.

Roll call of achievements of women in this Southeast Asian nation's wounds in almost all aspects of the sector from  bank chief executives and scholars of Syariah, or Islamic law, for regulators like Zeti Akhtar Aziz, governor of the central bank, which is widely credited with playing a major role in changing Kuala Lumpur become a hub for Islamic banking.

In fact, many women are currently involved in the Malaysian industry has risen through the ranks of conventional financial sector when they feel the pull of Islam sector , rapidly evolving global industry that estimated to be worth about $ 1 trillion in value this year.

Raja Teh Maimunah Raja Abdul Aziz,  is an investment banker before joining the Islamic banks in Malaysia and the Middle East. That decision eventually led to her last year appointed as global head of Islamic market in Bursa Malaysia, the country's stock market.

Women rising in the ranks of the industry in other countries too, including Britain, which also hinted his desire to become a hub of Islamic finance. But when it comes to countries with predominantly Muslim, Malaysian women win hands down, with the lead pack Jamelah Jamaluddin.

Ms. Jamelah was appointed director of RHB Islamic Bank in Malaysia in 2007 and is believed to have become the world's first woman to head an Islamic bank. Her appointment to the top job at Malaysian arm of Kuwait Finance House early this year was the first time a Gulf-owned  Islamic bank has appointed a women head.

Ms. Fozia, for his part, has been appointed head of Eoncap Islamic Bank in 2007 after leading the Islamic debt capital markets division at AseamBankers, now known as Maybank Investment Bank, for three years.

She said the traditional male domination of this industry means that women have faced greater challenges. And the success of Malaysian women, she believes, comes largely from the fact that no public separation of men and women in this country.

Nevertheless, Engku Rabiah Adawiah, the first woman Syariah adviser registered with the Securities Commission of Malaysia and Islamic scholar at the central bank's and the only female National Syariah Advisory Council, said that when she first began attending industry conferences, she is the only woman among the speakers.

Now, she said, more women could be seen at events like that, and she expects the presence of women in the industry to continue to grow. Three-quarters of the students she taught at the International Islamic University Malaysia are women.

Malaysian women are always active in trade and commerce, so that's not something  culturally  odd for women to be at the forefront.