PUTRAJAYA: Countries that exclude women from the nation-building process and development will fall behind the competition, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak today.
He also said governments that sidelined women had learned a “difficult lesson” on the importance of gender equality in creating a prosperous nation.
“For Malaysia and its government, we are committed to elevating the roles and status of women. We have a very good track record in this regard, but there is still room for improvement.
“We want to give women more opportunities and get them to be more involved in the decision-making process,” he said at the launch of the 2018 Women Empowerment Year’s (TMW18) logo and branding.
Present was Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and other Cabinet ministers.
The TMW18 logo depicts a rose with five round petals, which represent the country’s economy, education, security, health and culture.
The themes are in line with objectives outlined in the National Women Policy. The midnight blue rose was chosen to reflect the strength of women and their wellbeing.
This logo will be used for all women empowerment programmes at the federal and state levels.
Najib, in his speech, said women would be included in all major government programmes, including the investment literacy initiative and preparations for the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
“If these programmes can be fully implemented, we will see significant improvement among (Malaysian) women in the context of mainstream development.”
The prime minister also said it was important to improve the livelihoods of those from the Bottom 40 (B40) income bracket by boosting their incomes.
“Things will improve significantly for a B40 family if both the husband and wife work,” he said.
Meanwhile, Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Rohani Abdul Karim said women must look ahead and plan for the future.
“It is my KPI (key performance indicator) to ensure that 59 per cent of Malaysian women are in the job market by the year 2020.”
She also said the slew of upcoming programes for women would be uploaded TMW18’s official portal, www.tmw18.gov.my.
Rohani added that the ministry would close monitor the programmes to gauge their effectiveness.
During the tabling of the 2018 Budget last year, Najib announced the 2018 Women Empowerment Year and promised various measures to increase the participation of women in nation-building.
One such measure is a tax exemption to be given to women for the first 12 months after a lapse of two years from employment.
The tax exemption can be claimed for the assessment years of 2018 to 2020.
The government had also allocated RM20 million for training and entrepreneurship programmes for women, including the PEAK Entrepreneur Programme under the MyWin Academy.