Groups: Gender equality push lacking

PETALING JAYA: While welcoming measures to increase women’s participation in the labour force in Budget 2019, women’s groups are underwhelmed with what the Budget is offering women.

Instead of provisions to “accelerate the achievement of gender equality”, the government is urged to push forward the Gender Equality Act that rights activists have been championing for a long time.

“We welcome the government’s plan to formulate policies that encourage women to join the workforce as well as the RM10mil allocation for childcare facilities in government offices as the lack of childcare is one factor hindering women from working. We also urge the government to set up more childcare facilities within the community for parents who work in the informal economy,” said Women’s Aid Organisation communications officer Tan Heang-Lee.

“Another issue that needs to be addressed is the gender wage gap at the workplace. The government must require companies to report the average wage of men and women employees, the proportion of men and women in different salary brackets and also the proportion of employees who receive bonuses. Transparency is important because women often don’t realise they are earning less than their male counterparts which propagates this wage gap,” she added.

In describing Budget 2019, as “underwhelming”, Sisters in Islam executive director Rozana Isa pointed out that while implementing policies to get more women in the workforce was a positive thing, it seemed to be motivated more by economic factors rather than the need for equality.

“From the script, it seemed that the motive of increasing women’s participation in the workforce is driven more by the report by Khazanah (quoted by Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng) which stated that raising women’s employment by 30% would increase Malaysia’s GDP by around 7%,” she said.