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While men were tasked with financially supporting the family during the industrial times, most women were still constrained within the four fences of their houses. Derogatory statements such as “women belong in the kitchen” were thrown around a lot. This is especially prevalent in Malaysia, which was at one point in time, categorized as a predominantly patriarchal community, owing to its strong Muslim roots.

This is partially because of the perception that women are “weak” and hence, not suitable for work. Years forward, we have seen an increase in initiatives to boost the participation of women in the workforce. However, does it work? To evaluate, we’ll look at the current position of women in the workforce and analyse Budget 2020, which aims to tackle the problem that exists in the status quo. 

According to a survey by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), female participation in Malaysia’s workforce stands at only 55 percent, starkly contrasted with 80 percent of men in the workforce. This is far below the government’s target of having at least 60 percent female participation in the workforce. If the rate of female participation rises to 65 percent, we would have added one million workers to the labour force, which will directly impact Malaysia’s national income positively. 

During the tabling of Budget 2020, Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng mentioned that if all obstacles faced by women to work are removed, Malaysia’s income per capita would increase by 26.2 percent. This potential is tantalising, thus explaining the government’s drive to provide more incentives for women to enter the workforce.

Even when women are involved in formal work, the majority of women remain in lower skilled jobs. This means that as a whole, females are paid less than their male counterparts. The gender gap is in no part caused by a lack of ability, and in fact, more women are enrolled in Malaysian public universities than men. Furthermore, women are more often than not stuck in the lower rungs of the corporate ladder, with most managerial positions still very much occupied by men. 

In response, the Malaysian government implemented a 30 percent female quota for boardroom across listed companies back in 2016. Three years forward, Malaysia is still trying to increase representation in initially all-men board of directors, with only 23.7 percent representation of women in the top 100 companies. This number is still quite low and frustrating. 

One reason is that women who have recently given birth tend to opt out of paid employment to take care of their children. This comes at the cost of them pressing pause on their talents and skills. To reduce the frequency of this occurring, Budget 2020 included the Women@Work incentive, which provides income tax exemptions for women aged 30 to 50 years old that have not been working for a year. Increasing maternity leave from 60 to 98 days for the private sector has been proposed, giving more time for mothers to recover and bond with their new infant. 

These promising incentives deserves praise, but it only scratches the surface. Equally important is to change the social stigma of gender roles within the household. Introducing more paternal leaves should help this progression. Malaysia could learn from the ‘daddy quota’, a perhaps questionably named program from Sweden which successfully helped with equal parenting and retaining more women in the workforce. The implementation of more ‘daddy quotas’ in the workforce equalizes the responsibility of parenting amongst spouses, educating the public that household chores are not a “women-only” task. In turn, this provides women more free time, thus allowing them to take up more high level managerial roles, which requires strenuous amounts of time and commitment. A workforce with an exclusive emphasis on maternity leave engrains the stigma of females in the house. Daddies could help remove it. 

Complementing this is a monetary initiative, where the government will give RM500 every month for two years to eligible women who have received jobs. RM300 is also given monthly for two years to employers who hire women that satisfies the criteria listed. Through this program, the government kills two birds with one stone – encourage married women to return to work, while incentivising companies to hire such employees. 

Nonetheless, the government must equally focus on empowering the mindset of women on top of the economic incentives. LeadWoman, an organisation that aims to develop corporate female leaders, are making strides in the right direction. More training to groom women for managerial roles should be encouraged, which will give them the tools needed to excel in a patriarchal world. While quotas are useful as a short term fix, teaching females the methods to succeed will ensure equal competition with the opposite gender for any job. 

Put simply, both the economy and all females out there will benefit from a higher female participation in the workforce. However, it is not as simple as handing out incentives and quotas. It is the progressive change in mindset that needs to happen simultaneously in order for women to move forward in the workforce. If not, even with more and more incentives provided, we will not see tangible and lasting change. Empowering the existence of women, coupled with encouraging equal gender roles in the household, is the biggest artillery to tackle the problem of low female participation in the workforce.