Don't Nag Your Husband During Lockdown, Malaysia's Government Advises Women

In this online poster, now removed, Malaysia's Ministry for Women, Family and Community Development advised women working at home to wear makeup and office clothes so as not to offend their husbands.

Ministry for Women, Family and Community Development/Government of Malaysia

Malaysia has the largest number of COVID-19 cases in Southeast Asia with more than 2,900 and counting. This week, Malaysia's government also had a serious public relations issue after an ill-conceived plan went online.

Malaysia's Ministry for Women, Family and Community Development issued a series of online posters on Facebook and Instagram with the hashtag #WomenPreventCOVID19. It advised the nation's women to help with the country's partial lockdown by not nagging their husbands.

The ministry also advised women to refrain from being "sarcastic" if they asked for help with household chores. And it urged women working from home to dress up and wear makeup.

"(It) is extremely condescending both to women and men," Nisha Sabanayagam, a manager at the advocacy group All Women's Action Society, told Reuters. "These posters promote the concept of gender inequality and perpetuate the concept of patriarchy."

The posters drew swift ridicule online.

Read more: https://www.npr.org/2020/04/01/825051317/dont-nag-your-husband-during-lock-down-malaysias-government-advises-women