Wan Azizah: Govt to get more women in the workforce

Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail. -filepic

SUBANG JAYA: The government intends to increase the participation of women in the workforce, says Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail (pic).

The Deputy Prime Minister said statistics in the third quarter of the year showed that 55.5% of women or 5.78 million Malaysian women were currently in the workforce.

This was an increase of 0.8 points compared to last year, said Wan Azizah.

She added that they were aiming to increase the participation of women to 56.5% by 2020.

“The involvement of women in business will contribute to the GDP,” she said during the launch of the Pelitawanis TNB conference on entrepreneurship on Thursday (Nov 15).

Dr Wan Azizah said entrepreneurship was a good platform for women to show their capabilities and to achieve success in life.

She said her ministry was in the process of setting up a leadership initiative for women to boost their competitiveness in the public and private sectors.

“Through this initiative, women will be given training, motivation and leadership skills to be at the highest echelons of management,” she said.