Keeping women in the workforce

ALTHOUGH Malaysia has done well in achieving gender parity in education, with 63% of public university enrolment being women, a significant number of them tend to drop out of the workforce due to personal or family commitments.

The female labour force participation rate (LFPR) for 2017 was 54.7% compared to 80.1% for males. Countries like South Korea and Japan have a “double peak pattern” where women who left the workforce would return when they are able to.