KOTA KINABALU: The 30 per cent target for women holding decision making posts in Sabah has still not been attained.
Community Development and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Jainab Ahmad Ayid when launching the Sabah Women Advisory Council (MPWS) and the Women Affairs Department Jubilee Celebration at Wisma Wanita near here yesterday, said this was because of the existence of a glass ceiling which hinders more women from holding such posts.
She added that many women in Sabah were qualified to hold such positions but the attitude of some people hampered efforts to get women to hold the posts.
At the same time, Jainab also mentioned that the 10-year masterplan for women development in Sabah would be revisited and inputs from stakeholders would be taken into account and possibly inserted into the masterplan in order to make it more inclusive in nature.
The subject of ‘glass ceiling’ was earlier brought up by Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) Tun Fatimah Hashim Women Leadership Centre director Professor Madya Dr Madeline Berma in her knowledge sharing entitled “Women of Sabah Towards Excellence”.
Dr Madeline said although many women were capable of holding the decision-making posts, in reality, there exists barriers that stop them from attaining these posts.
These barriers, she said, were either in the form of structure of an organisation or due to the mindset of the people.
As an example, she cited that when a female colleague of hers was promoted, some members of the community questioned why a woman was given the post instead of a man.
She said women’s representation in decision-making posts was still low.
Among others, there were only 10.4 per cent women decision makers in parliament and only 28.8 per cent women in the senate.
At another juncture, Dr Madeline also mentioned that only 46.9 per cent of women in the country formed part of the labour force.
She pointed that this was a worrying trend and a challenge for the country as it moved towards attaining a developed nation status by 2020.
“We need to have more women in the workforce. The government has provided various incentives to get women back into the workforce,” she said.
She also said women outnumbered men in tertiary institutions in the country.
“They form 60 per cent of the tertiary student community,” she said.
However, the bulk of these women only worked for a period of time and stopped when they start a family, she said.
“In Europe, and other developed countries, the women leave when they start a family, and then come back after that. In Malaysia, the scenario is different. After leaving the work force, they never return,” she said.
She added that a study had been conducted as to why the women never returned to the workforce.
“Our studies found that 93 per cent of women actually do want to come back to work, but 63 per cent have also indicated that it was very difficult for them to go back to work,” she said.
“The demand of family and work must be addressed by policy makers to help women balance their responsibilities – perhaps we could allow for flexible hours?” she suggested.
She also mentioned that among the imperatives of getting women back on the work force was that women unemployment and poverty are correlated.
“Women are selfless, and almost everything they earn goes towards the family. If you give RM1 to a woman, you can be sure 90 sen goes to her family,” she said.
In her sharing, Dr Madeline also shared some advice for women who were also mothers.
“A woman plays an important role in education because the role to nurture falls on the mother. Don’t entrust that responsibility wholly on teachers because education is not only about what’s taught in school but is about developing the individual. So don’t ever compromise your role,” she said.
She added that most parents were too busy, but that should not stop them from playing their role.
“Don’t let the kids forget that you are their parents,” she stressed.
She also opined that the only way to fight poverty was through education.
Also present at the event were MPWS chairperson Datuk Hajah Mariati Robert and Women Affairs Department director Datuk Hajah Siti Sapoo Haji Ahok.