Exploration of indigenous feminism, gender equality, and language use for women empowerment in Malaysia

The indigenous people are often labelled as the underdeveloped and backward community, and this is the same situation that the Orang Asli, the indigenous community of Malaysia had to face. Various changes have been made in their lives however, indigenous women are still facing challenges in making progress in their lives. Women empowerment is still difficult to be achieved by indigenous women and this is because most of them do not have prior knowledge and lack of awareness about what exactly women empowerment is, and how it can help them. Apart from that, due to their status, indigenous women face double discriminations due to their nature of being women and indigenous at the same time, which limit their capabilities to fully realize their potential. The aim of this study is to explore indigenous feminism, gender equality, and language among Orang Asli for women empowerment. This study employed a qualitative case study of multiple cases and multiple sites. This study utilized a semi-structured interview as the research instruments for the purpose of data collection. The gathered data were analyzed using thematic analysis. The qualitative data analysis software, Atlas.ti 8 was used to facilitate the data analysis process. The findings of the study showed that there were four themes emerged: (1) awareness on indigenous women’s rights, (2) indigenous women’s roles in family and society, (3) equal opportunities in family and society, and (4) language use among indigenous women. The findings also suggested that when indigenous women’s rights, opportunities, and privileges, in their society are attained, indigenous women empowerment can be achieved. This study implicates that the incorporations of new insights such as feminism, gender equality, and language use can bring contributions towards women empowerment as a whole in Malaysia, which offers valuable guidance for policymakers, educators, and authorities in Malaysia, helping them to craft more culturally informed and effective strategies for advancing women empowerment in Malaysia.