KUCHING: The recent landmark decision by the Malaysian government to approve the policy of ensuring that 30 per cent of women are at the decision making level in the private sector has been receiving a stream of positive sentiments from the public.
Datin Fatimah Abdullah
In late June, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak announced that the corporate sector had been given a five-year transition period to raise the number of women as members of the board of directors of companies and hold top positions in their respective companies.
The endorsement of the government came on the back of an appeal by the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development (KPWKM) to give an opportunity to qualified women to become company directors.
Najib commented that this was the way forward for the nation to appreciate the role of women in the context of national development because women’s capabilities to handle key positions had already been proven. The landmark decision would transform the participation of women in the country to a much higher level.
Taking into consideration that over the years, women have increasingly become active in their bid to pursue change and reforms on the global front, it is only natural that Malaysia is now witnessing an ongoing upscale rise of women to the leadership platform.
Apart from the contributions in the political showground, women’s participation in both the entrepreneurship and corporate field are equally important. This was affirmed by the Prime Minister’s wife, Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor in a recent media statement. Rosmah concluded that women entrepreneurs in the 21st century would become important transformational drivers of innovation and job-creation for the nation’s economic growth.
According to statistics announced to date, out of the 200 companies listed on Bursa Malaysia, up to November 2010, only 7.6 per cent of women were appointed as members of the board of these companies. Information provided by Bank Negara revealed that only 45 women or six per cent had been appointed as members of the board of directors at financial institutions up to April 2011.
As per data provided by the Malaysian Directors Academy (Minda) garnered from the Department of Statistics, overall labour force participation rate for women was 46 per cent compared with 80 per cent for men in 2006. Women between 25 years to 34 years of age comprised about 30 per cent of the total labour force of about 10.6 million workers in 2007.
The policy has been heralded as an affirmative measure in recognising the pivotal role of women in society. However, taking into account the low percentage of females now in the decision-making level in Malaysia, queries arise as to the success of the 30 per cent target in five years’ time.
In an exclusive interview with BizHive Weekly, Datin Fatimah, a Minister in the Chief Minister’s Office noted that the policy was a starting point to boost women’s growth in not only Sarawak but in Malaysia.
“Policy is good because it helps to open up people’s mind towards a whole new era that is progressing. Once the policy is in place, it can concurrently empower women through various programmes like education and training,” said Fatimah.
Dr Zabidah Putit, who is involved in several publications centred on the development of women and a senior lecturer at the Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) concurred that indeed Malaysia was a policy-driven country.
‘That is how the system works here. People are always talking and playing with figures. When these figures are backed up with policies, that is when we see a roll-out domino effect on our mission. The policy becomes a push-factor.
“In terms of the credibility of women in our society now, 30 per cent is a reasonable and logical demand considering the academic achievements that a lot of females in Malaysia have attained,” stated Zabidah.
In an email response to BizHive Weekly, director of the Sabah Housing and Real Estate Developers Association, Datuk Susan Wong stated that the policy could become a catalyst in the measures taken towards achieving gender equality in the corporate sector.
“Besides ensuring that the expertise, competitiveness and leadership abilities of women are optimised, the policy can lead to diversity and inclusion of women in the board of directors.
Currently in Malaysia, women in decision-making positions stand at 14 per cent, while those on the boards of government-linked and private companies remain very low, in the single digit category. Hence implementation of the policy will definitely have a tremedous impact on women’s growth,” said Datuk Wong.
Dr Kuldip Singh from the Faculty of Administrative Science and Policy Studies in University Teknologi Mara Sarawak (UiTM) echoed his sentiments and stated that as Malaysia was moving towards a developed economy, the role of women as decision makers especially in the private sector should be given serious consideration.
“I personally think it is going to take longer than five years to achieve the target of 30 per cent. But it is a good start since a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Hence, I regard this as a step in the right direction,” said Singh.
Taking into account the perspective of various sources, the 30 per cent quota was considered feasible on a nation-wide scale. However, would it be an over-ambitious figure to achieve within five years in Sarawak?