A female Malaysian minister has outraged people across the world with her crass comment that advised husbands to beat their “stubborn” wives for their “unruly” behaviour. Siti Zailah Mohd Yusoff, the deputy minister for women, family and community development, urged men to show their “unruly” wives strictness and “how much he wants her to change.”
Yusoff shared a two-minute video posted on Instagram called 'Mother's Tips', in which she gave such advice, that blew up a fury on social media. She went on to advise men that if their wives didn’t change, they can sleep apart from them for three days.
She further said, “However, if the wife still refuses to take the advice, or change her behaviour after the sleeping separation, then the husbands can try the physical touch approach, by striking her gently, to show his strictness and how much he wants her to change.”
She then offered advice to women and said they must speak to their husbands after seeking their permission first. The minister said they should wait till their husbands are calm, have prayed and finished eating before they approach them for a conversation.
Many users pointed out that irrespective of gender, beating someone should never be advised. A user called her an “embarrassment for Malaysian women” and wrote that she doesn’t deserve to be a deputy minister.
The Joint Action Group for Gender Equality, a coalition of women's rights groups, demanded Yusoff resign from her position for “normalising” domestic violence. They also said, “As a minister who is meant to uphold gender equality and the rights of women to protection and safety, this is abhorrent, denies women the right to equality, their right to dignity and to be free from degrading treatment. It is grossly mistaken and a demonstration of failed leadership.”