KOTA KINABALU: The database set up by the Department of Women Development has registered a total of 82,200 single mothers as of March this year, of which 5,429 are from Sabah.
Deputy Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Hajah Azizah Datuk Seri Panglima Haji Mohd Dun hoped that more single mothers would register with the MyWanita portal so that the government could understand their needs and assist them.
Speaking at the launch of the last leg of the Action Plan to Empower Single Mothers 2015-2020 roadshow here yesterday, she said the 2010 Census recorded more than 200,000 single mothers, but only 82,200 had registered with the MyWanita portal.
She said the Department of Women Development had received 750 new registrations by single mothers since the beginning of the roadshow in Selangor, Terengganu, Kedah, Sarawak and Pahang.
She said many single mothers needed assistance, not just in terms of money, but also their desire to learn how to increase their income as well as to enhance their knowledge and training.
Azizah said some single mothers were reluctant to register because of the stigma attached, but that should not exist anymore as this group and their children are in need of assistance.
She said some single mothers thought that they did not need assistance and thus did not register.
Even so, Azizah said one of the three core areas of the Action Plan to Empower Single Mothers was to step up the implementation of research and development coordination of single mothers.
“We need to know their problems and cases so that we can come up with plans or new strategies to overcome the phenomenon.”
She said there were also many young single mothers, some below 20 years old, needed to be identified in order for the government to assist them, such as enabling them to continue with their education.
Hence, she hoped that single mother associations and stakeholders would be more focused in registering single mothers through MyWanita portal at www.mywanita.gov.my or at any of the 15 State Women Development Offices nationwide, including Sabah and Sarawak.
Azizah added that her ministry would also create a one-stop centre specifically for single mothers at Urban Transformation Centres (UTC) in the whole country starting June 2016 as an initiative to provide access to single mothers who wished to register and receive related services.
Also present were State Attorney General Datuk Mariati Robert, Deputy State Secretary (Administration) Datuk Asnimar Hj Sukardi, Sabah Women’s Affairs Department (JHEWA) deputy director Myrna Jimenez and Department of Women Development deputy director-general Hasmawati Mohd Yusof.