Ecosystem helps women remain in workforce

KUALA LUMPUR: The workforce ecosystem, policies and facilities that are gendersensitive have been seen to be able to ensure professional and highly-skilled women remain in the job market, especially in the specialist workforce.

President of the National Council of Women’s Organisations Malaysia (NCWO) Prof Emeritus Tan Sri Dr Sharifah Hapsah Syed Hasan Shahabudin said a study found that women working mainly in professional and high-skilled fields would leave the job market when they reached the age of 30 due to several factors, such as ageing and the responsibility to raise a family.

Therefore, she said the provision of a women-friendly workforce ecosystem was vital to meet the needs of that group of workers especially those with families.

“One of the facilities that should be provided by employers is a child nursery at their respective premises so that the female employees can take care of their children without having to quit their jobs.

“Apart from that, during the pandemic, the working-fromhome facility or the flexible working hours were also introduced... and this is one of the initiatives that should be continued to help female employees with families and to prevent them from quitting their jobs,” she told Bernama here recently.

Sharifah Hapsah said employers and society should not see women-friendly facilities or policies as special treatment for that group, rather than a way to mobilise and not let women’s workforce, roles and skills in every field go to waste.

“When more professional and highly-skilled women quit their jobs, this will create a gap or gender imbalance in the professional and highly-skilled workforce... it is a loss for the country.

“Without policies that are sensitive towards the needs of those female workers, they will be left with no choice but to quit and forget their talents, skills and qualifications.

At the same time, Sharifah Hapsah said the sceptical view that women were incapable of shouldering responsibilities as leaders or decision-makers needs to be corrected.

She said the presence of women in administration and management groups is very important to achieve better results as their thoughts and views differed from that of men.

“Many may say that women, if appointed leaders, will lead by emotions.

That’s not true. Instead, with the women around, every discussion will be full of different perspectives.

“In fact, women as decisionmakers or in top management level, will ensure every decision made is of the best quality, hence creating gender equality and diversity in the organisation,” she said.

In a related development, Sharifah Hapsah also called on the government to continue improving the legal system, including making constitutional amendments to solve the issue of citizenship involving children born overseas to Malaysian mothers married to foreigners.

Citing the Anti-Sexual Harassment Bill 2021 passed by the Dewan Rakyat last July, she said it was indeed an initial success and a step forward to dignify the status of women.

“It is high time for the existing laws to be reviewed and amended to ensure that each one of them is inclusive of women and men and did not appear biased,” said Sharifah Hapsah, who is also optimistic that the roles of women in the workforce sector would continue to be empowered.