Back when Malaysia announced its independence in 1957, the enrollment of girls in secondary school was only 33%. The same statistics had then risen to 75% in 2018 (World Bank, 2021). The World Bank reported that this drastic change was related to both SDG 5 and SDG 4 (Quality Education), which involves a change in the attitude about girls’ education prospects. However, the issue of unbalanced female-to-male ratio in leadership positions persists despite the increase in girls’ enrollment in education. In fact, in 2018, women make up around 62% of the enrollment in higher education institutions (Sani, 2018). However, data suggests that the proportion of women in managerial positions is less than 1 in 5 in Malaysia. The outlook is less positive than other ASEAN countries including Lao PDR, Myanmar and Thailand, where 1 in 3 managerial positions held is female. This barrier is a remaining challenge to achieve the SDG with its rate of improvement positive but insufficient. Even the ratio of female-to-male labour force participation rate is a threat to achieving sustainability. The ratio is the modeled estimate of the proportion of the female population aged 15 years and older that is economically active, over the male proportion. The International Labour Organisation used data from the World Bank and set a target score of 100 for Malaysia, however, the current score is only at 66.31, indicating challenges remain. It is also worth mentioning that the economic losses caused by gender gaps in labour participation in the country is between 15% and 20% of total GDP. This affects the progress of achieving SDG 8, Decent Work and Economic Growth, which entails promoting inclusive and productive employment.
Furthermore, the issue of female placements in leadership roles extends to the national parliament. SDG index reported that the prospects of seats held by women in the Malaysian parliament face major challenges, with a rate of increment lower than half of the required rate. Despite the challenge in keeping track due to the recent rapid shifts in seats, the female representation in parliament is reported to be at 14.9% in 2020, which is far from the target score of 50. Malaysia ranks only 144th by the percentage of seats held by women in parliament, among 187 countries studied (GTC, 2021). Studies compared Malaysia to Angola and Mozambique, which both have very close population count as Malaysia, which is around 33 million. Angola has approximately 15 points higher than Malaysia, which is equivalent to 2.02 times the percentage of what Malaysia has. Mozambique has 28 points higher than Malaysia, which is 2.85 times higher! This eliminates the number of population as a reason, but also suggests that the issue could be caused by other differences in the social structure. As compared to 2019, the score Malaysia achieved was 14.4% (Statista, 2020). An increase of 0.5% was observed in 2020, which is a positive improvement, but the rate of improvement is far too low, making this a persisting barrier in achieving the goal.
From a slight tangent perspective, these challenges could persist due to Malaysia’s historical conservative and taboo attitudes towards women empowerment and sex education (Khalaf, Low, Kloei, Ghorbani, 2014). The SDG index also shows challenges in satisfactory modern practices in family planning, given the slow growth in percentage of women of reproductive age whose demand for family planning has been met with modern methods of contraception. In 2021, sanitary pad company, Libresse, was met with criticisms as they incorporated the vulva design on their products, which showed the country’s conservative attitude towards sex education in general (Segaran, 2021). The company's campaign was targeted to raise awareness of female anatomy and empower body positivity, but was reportedly misunderstood, thus expecting public discussions on modern contraception will be a challenge. The United Nations Departments of Economics and Social Affairs (UNDESA) set a target of 100 for Malaysia, which translates to meeting 100% the demand for family planning with modern methods. However, the imputed score obtained in 2020 is only 56.1, a clear barrier to achieving SDG 3.
Such challenges discussed have many potential solutions. The Malaysian government has acknowledged the importance of women’s education in STEM and so crafted policies such as the National Policy On Science, Technology & Innovation in 2013-2020, which empowers women to be trained in such fields. Women researchers have increased from 35.8% in 2004 to 49.9% in 2012, under the policies. MiWEPs, which is a non-profit organisation, advocates for women to be in leadership positions, be it managers, directors or in the C-suite. These actions lead the way for a more balanced gender ratio across executive boards in Malaysia, and will empower young women that education provides them the same opportunity as men. Speaking of greater opportunities, other countries have also seen examples that inspire, for example a British-Dutch company, Unilever, established a network of female micro-entrepreneurs in India which undergoes training to be sales agents. This gave rural women entrepreneurial skills and the ability to raise family income, thus suggesting that policies can assist women achieve more in life (Mahajan, 2016). Other than that, StarHub, a telecommunications firm in Singapore comes first in gender equality across the Asia Pacific region thanks to its commitments to female board representation and fair compensation policies (Starhub, 2018). Beyond opportunities, women in the labour force should and must be protected with anti-discrimination policies. The ‘#MeToo’ Movement has rooted its influences in Malaysia, with an uprising policies to prevent sexual harrassments and assaults, especially after an anonymous allegation went viral on a live radio show (Sukumaran, 2018). As the saying goes, prevention is better than cure, having an allegation or a case going on is too late for gender-based harassment to be stopped. Policies that raise awareness and educate on respect towards all individuals even before such cases or protests take place, should be crafted. By, Euan Thum.
Sukumaran, T. (2018) #MeToo time, Malaysia? Sex assault claims hit radio station BFM. Available online: https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/2176429/metoo-time-malaysia-sex-assault-claims-hit-radio-station-bfm
StarHub (2018) StarHub Ranked Top in Asia Pacific for Gender Equality. Available online: https://www.starhub.com/about-us/newsroom/2018/october/starhub-ranked-top-in-asia-pacific-for-gender-equality.html
Mahajan, V. (2016) How Unilever Reaches Rural Consumers in Emerging Markets. Harvard Business Review. Available online: https://hbr.org/2016/12/how-unilever-reaches-rural-consumers-in-emerging-markets
Segaran, M. (2021) Vulva-inspired Batik Design For Sanitary Pads Sparks Ridiculous Outrage. Available online: https://lipstiq.com/news/179539/talking-kok-vulva-inspired-batik-design-for-sanitary-pads-sparks-ridiculous-outrage/
Khalaf, Z., Low, W.Y., Khloei, E.M., Ghorbani, B. (2014) Sexuality Education in Malaysia: Perceived Issues and Barriers by Professionals. Asia-Pacific Journal of Public Health. DOI: 10.1177/1010539513517258
Statista (2021) Proportion of seats held by women in national parliaments in Malaysia from 2011 to 2020. Available online: https://www.statista.com/statistics/730186/malaysia-proportion-of-seats-held-by-women-in-national-parliament/#:~:text=In%202019%2C%20the%20female%20representation%20in%20national%20parliaments,their%20share%20of%20women%20in%20ministerial%20positions%20.
Graph To Chart (GTC) (2021) Percentage of seats held by women in parliament: Malaysia. Available online: https://en.graphtochart.com/gender/malaysia-proportion-of-seats-held-by-women-in-national-parliaments.php
Sani, R. (2018) New Straits Time: Empowering more women in higher education. Available online: https://www.nst.com.my/education/2018/04/352834/empowering-more-women-higher-education
The World Bank (2021) School enrollment, secondary, female (% gross). UNESCO Institute for Statistics ( uis.unesco.org ) Available online: https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SE.SEC.ENRR.FE
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