Ivy Josiah is a prominent women’s rights activist who is integral in helping establish the Women’s Aid Organisation. She’s been a human rights defender for many decades and has been involved in various protests and demonstrations throughout the years, including the many Bersih rallies. She joins BFM to share her story.

Stories of Activism

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Archival Clippings

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Papers & Articles

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Projects & Collaborations

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When I retired as the Executive Director of Women’s Aid Organisation (WAO) in 2014, I was a little nervous about what I was going to do with all my free time. I was a volunteer and member of WAO from 1982 and became its first ED in 1996 until 2014.

Although I worked part time during my first year of retirement as WAO’s fundraiser but soon the 12 months zipped by and I was left with time and nagging thoughts that I must do something useful.

I had already declared LOUDLY, so I can hear it for myself I will write a book about my experiences with WAO, Malaysian civil society, Asia Pacific women’s groups and the UN including the face-to-face trainings in over 15 countries from South Africa to Kirghizstan to East Timor! It will be anecdotal, funny and profound, I had so so many stories. 

"I want to describe how Malaysia’s first Refuge for battered women and their children in 1982 grew to become a leading voice for women’s rights. How we began looking narrowly at domestic violence and ended up with tackling civil and political rights."