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Malaysia – Lack of family-friendly policies keeping women out of the job market

02 June 2015

“The working environment in our country must be more conducive to attract more women to retain their jobs,” said Johan Merican, CEO of government employment skills agency TalentCorp, reports astroawani.com.

“The female labour participation rate in Malaysia [is] currently at 53.6% in employment; and if we compare the rate with our neighbouring countries, it doesn’t look good,” he explained.

He said for the last three decades, the female labour force participation rate has remained at a rather consistent percentage of between 44% and 47%.

Quoting a 2013 PwC report, he said that the majority of corporations in Malaysia do not offer family-friendly policies: “Our key challenges is how do we get Malaysians employers to take a look at the current situation and  how the employment environment needs to be more conducive to make sure women’s retain their job.”

Speaking about the flexWorkLife.my, an initiative between the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development and TalentCorp, Mr Merican said its purpose was to facilitate the return of women to the workplace.

“We already have 30% of women in decision-making position in finance management. We want Malaysia where we able to optimise the full potential of all our Malaysians and ensure that the employers provide the environment that enable women to fulfil their potential,” he added.

The Malaysia Human Development 2013 report also stated that most women quit their jobs to take care of their children. Other reasons for them to leave the workforce include marriage, supporting their husbands’ careers, and also their husbands had requested they stop working.