GPH Connects Monash Researchers with National Gender Justice Leaders at Global 50/50 Roundtable in Kuala Lumpur

Published: 24 August 2026

On Thursday, 23 April 2026, Global 50/50 — the independent think tank co-founded and co-led by GPH's Prof. Sarah Hawkes and Prof. Kent Buse — convened a closed-door roundtable on Gender Equality, Women's Rights and Leadership in Malaysia at the Kimpton Hotel, Kuala Lumpur. Held under Chatham House Rules, the 90-minute session brought together advocates, lawyers, activists, and researchers from across Malaysia's gender justice movements for a frank, wide-ranging conversation.

GPH helped connect Monash University Malaysia researchers with backgrounds in gender and women's studies to the discussion, drawing participants from across the School of Medicine, the School of Arts and Social Sciences, the School of Engineering, the School of Business, and the School of Pharmacy, reflecting the breadth of gender-related research happening across the university.

The roundtable moved through legal reform, health, economic empowerment, citizenship rights, and gender-based violence, distinct entry points that, as the conversation surfaced, often share the same systemic roots. A recurring theme was the gap between what exists on paper, laws, targets, policies, and what women actually experience day to day in courts, workplaces, and communities, underscoring the need for nationally grounded data to make that gap visible. Global 50/50 brought its own contribution to that conversation: new analysis of women's health across ASEAN national strategies, examining who gets prioritised in national health frameworks, which stages of women's lives are reflected, and where the gaps remain.

The format encouraged every voice in the room: participants introduced themselves by naming one under-recognised issue in Malaysia's women's rights landscape or one area of their own work that needed greater support, before moving into facilitated discussion on where collective or comparative approaches could add the most value. As one participant in the room put it, the session felt like "a first date": a first recognition that despite different starting points, the issues, and their root causes, were shared, and that any meaningful response would need to be collective.

The roundtable reflects GPH's ongoing role in connecting Monash's research community with regional and global conversations on gender justice, building on Global 50/50's founding leadership from within the department.