News South Asia

Malaysia moves to increase women′s participation in workforce by 2015

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia aims to increase the participation of women in the workforce from 52.4 per cent to 55 per cent by 2015.

Minister in the Prime Minister′s Department and Chief Executive Officer of the Performance Management and Delivery Unit (Pemandu) Datuk Seri Idris Jala said the government also wants to see the number of women in decision-making positions improve from 24 per cent to 30 per cent by 2016.

He told reporters this at a media conference on the launch of the Women in Leadership programme, here today.

He said according to a study, by achieving these percentages, it would help Malaysia add two per cent to the nation′s gross domestic product.

The Women in Leadership Malaysia programme is an eight-month initiative conducted by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) and supported by Talent Corp (M) Bhd (TalentCorp), a unit under the Prime Minister′s Department.

The programme, which has already recruited 18 participants, caters to senior women managers in Kuala Lumpur and focuses on evolving the unique leadership style of participants through a blend of workshops, peer learning groups and one-to-one mentoring sessions.

It also supports the career of women in business across all industry sectors and business functions, while aiming for a senior leadership or board role.

"Greater inclusiveness through more women in leadership will support better performance and stronger governance of companies," Idris said, adding, currently they only made up 8.6 per cent of listed company board members.

He said the government′s move is in line with the Prime Minister′s recent clarion call to Malaysian corporates to focus more on diversity, not just at the board, but also in top management.

ICAEW is a leading professional membership organisation that promotes, develops and supports over 142,000 chartered accountants worldwide.

TalenCorp formulates and facilitates initiatives to address the availability of talent in line with the needs of the country′s economic transformation.--BERNAMA