Groups: Focus on single mums and working women

PETALING JAYA: Women groups want Putrajaya to focus on single mothers, working women and childcare in Budget 2024, which is due to be tabled on Oct 13 in the Dewan Rakyat.

Women Lawyers Association president Goh Siu Lin said there must be allocations set aside to cater to the needs of single mothers and working women as they face challenges such as limited income, difficulties in finding nearby registered childcare centres and time to navigate their demanding schedules.

“We have to determine who exactly are the single parents and the number of single mother households. Are they getting sufficient alimony from former spouses if they are divorced?

“It is very challenging living as a single parent or working woman because you have various limitations.

“So how can we support women to manage these two very important roles – being a career woman and a mother?

“These women are equally ambitious, but also they want to do a good job of bringing up the family but do they have enough support to juggle all these?” she said when contacted.

Goh said to ease the predicament of single parents, there should be more registered childcare centres, especially near offices.

The government, she said, could play a role by providing the budget for training new caregivers.

“Otherwise, mothers need to travel here and there just to find a decent childcare centre. Peace of mind is very important both at work and home,” she said.

At the same time, Goh said there must be specialised family courts with onsite counsellors and mediation centres so that children, too, could have their representatives.

This way, she said the voice of the children could be brought forward by a neutral party.

“It is usually the adults who get representation but the voices of the children are not adequately brought forward.

“There needs to be funds for training the child representatives and to subsidise the cost of child representatives.

“Also, there must be a budget put aside to create more awareness such as roadshows, aside from training more child lawyers,” she said.

Meera Samanther, former Women’s Aid Organisation (WAO) president, said there must be long-term measures in place to protect the well-being of women for decades to come.

Better access to healthcare and public transportation are important, especially for women living in urban areas and in light of the rising cost of living, she said.

Meera said women in the country would also like to see more assistance given to people with disabilities and senior citizens.

“Malaysia needs to act on ensuring nationwide first and last-mile connectivity of its public transport system with accessibility for people with disabilities and senior citizens guaranteed through appropriate infrastructure and services.“Access to healthcare as a basic human right can only be supported with public transport that is friendly to people with disabilities and senior citizens,” she said.

“Our third wish list is for the government to recognise accessibility as a fundamental right, not a special need, by addressing various communication methods, such as screen readers for blind persons, Augmentative and Alternative Communication devices for non-speaking individuals, and access to legal aid and justice for the people with disabilities community.

“This aligns with our nation’s digital transformation efforts while considering the 16% of the population with disabilities,” she said.