The progress of Malaysian Women

Recognition given to Malaysian women.

Since independence (August 31, 1957), the role and status of women in Malaysia have undergone a profound change. Women have indeed actively contributed towards the development of the country. Efforts to forge greater gender equality have resulted in women achieving significant progress in key socio-economic areas. Women were also credited with playing a major role in poverty eradication as well as contributing to the country’s GDP.

Malaysian women have benefitted from increasingly access to education and training as indicated by the improvement in their literacy rates, enrolment and achievements at all levels of education. As an example in 1959, there were only 77 female undergraduates or 10.7% of the total student enrolment in the University of Malaya, which was the only university then. Today, female students outnumber the male students by the ratio of 61:39.

The participation of women in the labour force has shown an increasing trend from 30.8% in 1957 to around 46% for the period 2000-2006. In terms of power sharing and decision making in politics and economy, the women share has also indicated a gradual increase. There has also been an increase in women voters, memberships in political parties, political candidates and appointments to elected and appointed offices.

The progress of Malaysian women especially in education and health is indeed remarkable in comparison with the countries in the Asia Pacific Region and Muslim countries. The Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific or ESCAP, in its Economic and Social Survey 2007, indicated that gender discrimination in the region is most visible in the low access that women have to education and health services, economic opportunities and political participation. A 30-40% gap in male – female labour force participation is common in the region developing countries.

ESCAP 2007 studies indicated that the economic and social costs of gender discriminations on women is enormous. The Asia Pacific Region for instance is losing USD 42 to 47 billion per year because of restriction on women access to employment opportunities. Gender gap in education on the other hand is costing between USD 16-30 billion per year.

Meanwhile, is some societies in the Muslim World, scant attention given to women has proven detrimental to the development of Muslim societies all over the world. The gender marginalization and consigning women solely to the private domain, deprives their rights to contribute towards development of society.