KUALA LUMPUR: The participation of women in the country’s labour force is still low compared to other Southeast Asian nations, Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob said.
He said although females made up 47.7% or nearly half of the Malaysian population in 2020, their participation in the labour force last year was only 55.5%.
“This rate is low compared to other Southeast Asian countries such as Singapore with 69.7% and Thailand’s 66.8%.
“The enrolment rate of females in all levels of education, whether primary, secondary or tertiary, was high but in terms of participation in the labour market, women’s involvement is low,” he said at the 60th National Women’s Day celebration at Dewan Perdana Felda here.
The event was graced by Raja Permaisuri Agong Tunku Azizah Aminah Maimunah Iskandariah.
Ismail said the government at the National Social Council meeting had agreed to set up Gender Focal Points and Gender Focal Teams at all ministries and agencies to increase women’s participation through gender mainstreaming in the planning and implementation stages of government policies and initiatives.
He stressed that efforts to empower women should start from their basic needs, namely their ability to generate income to ensure their survival and that of their families.
Elaborating, he said several initiatives had been implemented, including the TekunNita programme under the National Entrepreneurial Group Economic Fund (Tekun Nasional) involving an allocation of RM19.9 million for 2022, which had benefitted 1,264 women entrepreneurs so far.
“As of July 31, a total of 265 participants received funding through the DanaNita programme with an allocation of RM10 million under Mara.
“Meanwhile, the MyKasih Kapital programme is implemented to provide one-off business capital assistance of RM500 to encourage women to do business,” he said, adding that the programme had benefitted 10,496 women from the B40 group since it was implemented in April last year until July this year.
In addition, the government had introduced the Wanita Bangkit@KPWKM programme, involving strategic cooperation with over 50 public and private agencies to offer employment opportunities and entrepreneurial activities, which has benefitted over 40,000 women across the country.
Ismail said he had also instructed government-linked companies (GLCs) and government-linked investment companies (GLICs) to have at least 30% of women board members before their annual general meeting in 2023.
“To date, some 210 out of 900 private limited companies have more than 30% women on their board of directors,” he said.
Source: https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2022/08/25/womens-participation-in-labour-force-still-low-says-pm/