KUALA LUMPUR: Women accounted for 39.4% of the top management group in the public service as of December 2025, the Dewan Rakyat was told.
Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri said women's participation in leadership in the public and corporate sectors had shown encouraging progress over the years.
"The government has always paid attention to efforts to strengthen women's participation in leadership and decision-making positions.
"Statistics from the Public Service Department show that, as of December 2025, women accounted for 39.4% of the top management group.
"This indicates that the public sector has exceeded the 30% target set for women's representation at the decision-making level," she said during the question-and-answer session in the Dewan Rakyat on Monday (Oct 19).
Nancy was responding to a supplementary question by Indera Mahkota MP Datuk Seri Saifuddin Abdullah, who asked about concrete measures the government was taking to improve women's participation in politics, citing persistent barriers that prevent women from advancing to leadership positions within political parties.
Nancy added that the government was also working to strengthen women's participation in politics through initiatives such as the Women's Leadership Apprenticeship (Perantis) programme, which provides women with opportunities to develop their leadership skills and showcase their capabilities.
Nancy said the programme aimed to help women gain recognition for their talents and improve their opportunities to enter politics and leadership roles.
Since its introduction in 2024, Perantis benefited 5,369 women that year, with training and mentoring involving 125 prominent women in 2025, she said.
As of August 2026, a further 3,375 participants had received guidance from 78 prominent women.
She also acknowledged that increasing women's representation in politics remained challenging, as political party leaders needed to be willing to give women more opportunities.
"But we will not stop there. We are working on other initiatives, hoping that leaders from the various political parties will recognise the talent available in our country.
"We are not asking for sympathy, but for political leaders to recognise these women's abilities," she said.
On another development, Nancy said a mid-term evaluation of the National Women's Policy and its accompanying Women's Development Action Plan 2025-2030 would be conducted in 2028 to assess their effectiveness and identify areas for improvement.
She said implementation progress was being monitored twice a year through a monitoring dashboard, with updates reported to the National Women and Family Council.
The policy and action plan, launched in March last year, focuses on four priority areas, including the economy, leadership, women's safety and well-being.
