Celebrating Progress for Women
Malaysia Day commemorates the formation of the Malaysian Federation on September 16, 1963. It is celebrated to foster national unity and remember the day Malaysia came to be as one country.
60 years since, Malaysian women have made great strides in many aspects of life, including the workforce. The World Bank's Gender Data Portal shows that the proportion of women in vulnerable employment has decreased from 29.1% (1991) to 22.9% (2021). Moreover, Malaysia’s female labor force participation rate has increased since 1990, and is at 52.7% for women and 78.7% for men as of 2022.
In the political arena, women hold 13.6% of the seats in the Malaysian national parliament. This is an increase from 2010, when women only held 10.8% of the seats. However, the current rate is lower than the average rate in upper-middle income countries, which is 22.5%.
Throwback: 1957 - 2000
On leadership and politics, the number of women running for office in Malaysia's general elections has increased steadily, but slowly, over the years. In the 1959 general elections, only 15 women out of 806 candidates contested for state-level seats. In the 1964 general elections, the number of women candidates increased to 16, but there were still 753 male candidates.
In a 2003 report by the Ministry of Women and Family Development, the slow progress of Malaysian women in politics was attributed to a variety of factors, including:
Nonetheless, the report acknowledged that in the years between 1957-2000, rural women have made significant progress in leadership roles, both in village committees and in informal women's groups and associations. However, the report also shows that women tend to be more active in these informal groups, which are often focused on socio-economic objectives.
In the private sector, women were disproportionately represented in middle management and support staff positions. Men held the majority of senior executive positions, similar to the public sector. However, a growing number of highly qualified women were breaking through the glass ceiling and reaching the top. It is now becoming increasingly common to see women CEOs and presidents of corporations.
The millennium: 2000-2023
In 2023, Ngow and Taha (2023) found that Malaysia has a higher percentage of women business leaders than other parts of Asia. For instance, women make up 28% of directors at large companies in Malaysia, compared to 18% in Japan and 20% in Hong Kong. Women also hold 40% of the roles on senior management teams in Malaysia, compared to the global average of 32%.
However, the study also found that women business leaders in Malaysia are more likely to leave their jobs than men. This suggests that achieving gender equality in leadership requires not only promoting and advancing women, but also retaining them in these positions.
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Following Bursa Malaysia's mandatory 1 woman on board regulation, the percentage of women on the boards of the Top 100 Public Listed Companies has reached the 30% mark (August 2023). This is a welcomed increase from almost ten years ago in 2014, where only 10% of board members were women.
Despite support for the economic and leadership advancement of women, they remain underrepresented in decision-making positions due to the following gender barriers:
As we progress as a nation, both the private sector and government agencies should continue to push for parity to ensure no one is left behind. This includes more sex-aggregated data and transparent reporting for us to get a comprehensive picture of women who are falling through the gaps.
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