KUALA LUMPUR: The RM20 million allocation to empower female entrepreneurs will eliminate the gender wage gap in the country, said Woman’s Aid Organisation (WAO) communication officer Tan Heang Lee.
Tan was responding to the allocation to train and prepare female entrepreneurs under Performance, Empowerment, Acceleration and Knowledge (PEAK) programme.
The programme, which was announced during the tabling of the 2018 Budget today, will be spearheaded by the Women’s Innovation Academy (MyWin).
MyWin was set up under the Prime Minister’s Department to increase women’s participation in the workforce.
According to a 2012 World Bank report, said Tan, the gender wage gap among entrepreneurs in the country is wide.
“The report found that if we eliminate the gender gap in entrepreneurship, we could increase income per capita by 7 per cent.
“Women have historically been disadvantaged in entrepreneurship. Thus, we welcome funds to support women in entrepreneurship, which could help level the playing field,” said Tan when contacted.
Tan said WAO also supported the government’s move to increase the number of women working in government-linked companies (GLCs), government-linked investment companies and statutory bodies.
It was announced that women are to fill 30 per cent of all decision-making positions by next year. It was also announced that GLCs will now offer childcare facilities.
“While we support these moves, we also look forward to seeing the private sector to follow suit.
“At the same time, WAO also supports the introduction of the 90-day maternity leave in the private sector. Moving forward, we should also introduce paternity leave for men to ensure that couples share childcare responsibilities,” she said.
Tan, however, said more could be done to curb domestic violence.
“Research shows that violence against women leads to economic losses. The government has recently passed amendments to the Domestic Violence Act. These policies must be adequately financed to ensure effectiveness,” she said.
She said adequate funding should be provided to the Welfare Department (to implement the newly-created Emergency Protection Order, and the One-stop Crisis Centres in public hospitals.
“Finally, police reports on domestic violence have also nearly doubled since 2010. Hence, the Federal Police Sexual, Women and Child Investigation Division (D11)should be given more funding to manage the increasing number of cases,” she said.
In the 2018 Budget announcement today, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said women who are unemployed for at least two years and want to reenter the work force can apply for a tax exemption of up to 12 months.
The tax exemption, he said, is claimable for the assessment year of 2018 until 2020.
Keywords: Najib Razak, 2018 Budget, women, WAO, gender gap, domestic violence, tax exemption, childcare facilities, decision-making positions