KUALA LUMPUR: The amendments to the Employment Act 2022 are aimed at narrowing the gap between women and men in the workforce, says Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri.
She said that these amendments include an increase of paid maternity leave from 60 to 98 days and a ban on terminating an employee who is pregnant or suffering from illnesses arising from pregnancy.
There are also requirements for employers to always exhibit a notice to raise awareness on sexual harassment at workplace because it is important to make women and men feel safe,” said Nancy.
She added that there are amendments by the Social Security Organisation (Socso) in allowing the disbursement of childcare grants equivalent to 80% of the insured salary value of workers to encourage women to get back into the workforce after maternity leave.
Nancy added that approximately 130,000 women who returned to work after maternity leave will benefit from the grant, which involves RM290mil of allocations a year.
She added that a monthly child care fee subsidy of RM180 per child will be provided to civil servants, while the monthly income limit of households eligible for the nursery fee subsidy was raised from RM5,000 to RM7,000.
“The ongoing legislative reforms, policies and plans, reflects the government’s commitment towards supporting women by building a society of equal opportunities,” added Nancy.
She said that Putrajaya is aiming to increase Malaysia’s female labour participation to 59% by 2025, adding that Statistics Department data shows that female labour force participation only stands at 55.5% as of 2021, compared to 80.9% of men in the same year.
"This is why the policy of ensuring women make up 30% of decision-making positions is consistently incorporated in our Malaysia plans," said Nancy.
“Why is this important? This sends a signal that women can make it to the top,” she added in her speech at the World Women Economic & Business Summit 2023 by KSI Strategic Institute for Asia Pacific on Monday (May 15).
Nancy also said that top management women representation in the public sector had reached 38.8% at present, which earned Malaysia an international accolade for our best practice at the recent 2023 Global Summit of Women in Dubai earlier this month.
"While efforts are being undertaken by the government to protect women and ensure their fundamental rights, there are still systematic cultural barriers that need to be overcome,” added Nancy.
The goal of 59% women labour participation was previously set to be achieved by 2020 under the 11th Malaysian plan (2016-2020) of the previous administration under the former Barisan Nasional government.
