KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 25 (NNN-Bernama) — The participation of women in Malaysia’s labour market is still low compared to other Southeast Asian countries, Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob said.
He said although females made up 47.7 per cent or almost half of the Malaysian population in 2020, women’s participation in the labour force last year was only 55.5 per cent.
“This rate is low compared to other Southeast Asian countries such as Singapore with 69.7 per cent and Thailand, 66.8 per cent.
“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, here Thursday.
The ceremony was graced by Malaysian Queen Tunku Hajah Azizah Aminah Maimunah Iskandariah.
Ismail Sabri said the government at the National Social Council meeting has agreed to set up the Gender Focal Point and Gender Focal Team at all ministries and agencies, to increase women’s participation through gender mainstreaming in the planning and implementation stages of government policies and initiatives.
The Prime Minister stressed that efforts to empower women should start from their basic needs, namely their ability to generate income to ensure the survival of themselves and 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 (US$4.4 million) for 2022, which has benefited 1,264 women entrepreneurs so far.
The Prime Minister said he had also instructed government-linked companies (GLCs) and government-linked investment companies (GLICs) to have at least 30 per cent of women board members before their annual general meeting in 2023.
“Thankfully, to date, some 210 out of 900 private limited companies have more than 30 per cent women on their board of directors,” he said.
— NNN-BERNAMA
