Taylor’s Debaters Makes Waves With Its First All-Female Exco
This article has been written by the Taylor’s Debaters club. All opinions expressed here reflect the views of the writers and not the…
This article has been written by the Taylor’s Debaters club. All opinions expressed here reflect the views of the writers and not the organisation.
Taylor’s Debaters, Malaysia’s top debating team and Taylor’s Pride and Joy will be led by an all-female executive committee for the first time on August 15, 2021. With the newly appointed Exco comes renewed optimism for success for the Taylorians, as well as another step toward more female students pursuing positions of authority. So, what does this new Exco imply for prospective female debaters? And why is it so critical to encourage women to seek positions of power? With this in mind, we must address the realities of women engaging in the historically male-dominated debate arena, as well as the need for adequate female representation in the patriarchal society we inhabit.
After analysing 14 tournaments: the European University Debating Championships (EUDC) 2001–2013 and the World University Debating Championships (WUDC), 2013 (Pierson, n.d.) concluded an analysis of male speakers having a better speaker score than women. While the studies acknowledge that this finding may be attributed, in part, to males having greater experience, they also address judges having consistent gender preferences, implying that sexism may play a factor in their choice. These findings are bolstered by a female Taylor’s Debaters alumnus, Christina Ramani, who stated, “At times, I have also felt that some judges have given credit to a male teammate for something I said, and given them higher speaker scores as a result,” and that she has also noticed that in order for female debaters to be taken seriously, they developed traits usually associated with men, such as talking loudly or aggressively. Fortunately, the debate landscape has evolved since then. It is now a safer space for debaters, as stated by our current Exco members and seasoned alumni — who wish to remain anonymous — stating, “Although I would not say misogyny is completely eradicated in the circuit (because we have internalised it and tend to reflect it subconsciously), it totally topped my list of safe spaces and is currently a place where I can comfortably be the woman I am.”
Historically, Malaysia’s political scene has had only two women leading political parties (Ganga Nayar, who founded the Malaysian Workers’ Party in 1978, and Dr Wan Azizah, the first president of People’s Justice Party [PKR]) and only 5 out of 31 parliament members are women. While the scale of Taylor’s debate club’s new Exco is smaller in comparison to the national political scene, it sends female students an important message on their potential to become leaders where, despite the lack of representation of women in our society, the Taylor’s Debaters club has proven that women can be leaders, as expressed by the President of the current Exco, Myrra Jane. This hope for more female leaders is also shared by Leen Ahmed, the current External Vice President, who expresses her new-found confidence in her power to make a difference, just like the rest of the all-female Exco who have exhibited their new-found strengths and worth in navigating through the man’s world we currently live in.
As a result, this all-female Exco wants to make ripples in our society, making it not only a more accessible world for ambitious female debaters, but also proving that women are leaders of tomorrow. Malala Yousafzai, a female education activist in Pakistan, once said, “There comes a time when you have to choose whether to be silent or stand up,” and at this moment, the Taylor’s Debaters club has chosen to stand up against the anti-female narrative that women are incapable of becoming leaders, and they have chosen to stand up and fight for a world where women are encouraged to become capable leaders who are allowed to speak up for society.
[Written by: Nur Qistina Fitri Binti Zulkifli]