KUALA LUMPUR: The government is ramping up initiatives to raise female labour participation to 60 per cent compared with 56.2 per cent at present.
Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri said the ministry would focus on three points to achieve this goal.
First, she said, the ministry emphasised better policies and laws, such as boosting the National Women Policy and fully implementing the Anti-Sexual Harassment Act 2022.
"Second, we will provide the ecosystem to support women, including subsidised daycare centres as well as financial aid for women entrepreneurs, such as MyKasih Kapital and the two-year Exit Programme (2YEP) carried out by the ministry.
"Third, we will provide access to training and capacity building, that is, upskilling and reskilling, such as the Wanita Bangkit programme, WeJana and WeBridge."
She said this in her speech on Tuesday at the Kasih Wanita special discussion session: "Madani Economy Empowers Women".
She said the engagement session, comprising participation of women leaders in the public and private sectors, was aimed at identifying the direction in strengthening the support system to increase women's participation in the workforce, improve awareness in streamlining gender equality to support economic development; and improve networking with various quarters in women empowerment.
In realising the 60 per cent target, Nancy said, the government would carry out policies that supported a wage-to-GDP ratio increase to 45 per cent, on a par with more developed countries.
"This means the government does not only want more women in the labour market, but it also wants them to have a higher purchasing power.
"Besides that, the government, through the National Economic Action Council, is also discussing the proposed progressive wage policy, which is voluntary."
She said the policy would ensure that workers' salaries could be improved consistently with an equitable wage distribution.
Women's participation in the labour force in the first quarter of this year was at 82.9 per cent, which was lower compared with men's, said the Statistics Department.
"Malaysia is lagging behind other Asean countries (in this respect).
"This is a waste of talent, as Malaysian women generally hold higher qualifications compared with men, based on enrolment rates in primary, secondary and tertiary education levels reported in the Malaysia Gender Gap Index."
Present at the event was Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, wife of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and a former deputy prime minister.
Dr Wan Azizah, a mother of six, said protecting women and empowering them was a shared responsibility, not only among their families, but also employers and the community.
"I used to work at a hospital with late shifts and being on-call, so my extended family helped me look after my children. "It is now difficult to expect the extended family to do this, especially with our ageing society."
She said a support system, including affordable children's care services, better work environment with facilities for nursing mothers and protection against sexual harassment, in addition to pay equity, would encourage more women to return to the workforce.