KUALA LUMPUR: More needs to be done to address gender-based violence, unpaid care responsibilities and the financial insecurity faced by vulnerable women, say women’s organisations.
Women’s Centre for Change Penang (WCC) executive director Karen Lai said Budget 2027 lacked a specific allocation for initiatives to prevent and address violence against women and children.
“Strong laws and protection frameworks must be complemented by sustained funding for prevention programmes, survivor support services, counselling and frontline response mechanisms,” she said, urging the government to prioritise resources for tackling sexual and gender-based violence.
Lai said the RM100mil matching grant to strengthen the childcare ecosystem and train 6,000 childcare providers in more than 50 new areas across nine states was a positive step towards supporting working parents and improving children’s well-being.
She also praised measures to enhance the Malaysia Internet Crime Against Children system, expand the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission’s Safe Internet Campaign in schools, modernise criminal and evidence laws and strengthen legal aid and protection for vulnerable groups.
WCC also welcomed the RM200mil allocation under Geran Sejahtera Madani for equipment grants and training for 40,000 recipients, particularly women.
Lai said the initiative could help women develop sustainable livelihoods and achieve financial independence, provided application processes were accessible and support extended to business development and market access.
SIS Forum (Malaysia) executive director Rozana Isa called for cost of living assistance to better reflect the circumstances of vulnerable households, including single mothers, divorced women supporting children and survivors of domestic violence.
Increasing women’s participation in the workforce, she added, must go hand in hand with addressing unpaid care responsibilities, ensuring access to affordable childcare, decent wages and social protection.
Informal workers and single mothers, in particular, need targeted assistance to achieve genuine financial independence, she added.
