KUALA LUMPUR: The RM10 million allocation to add 50 children daycare centres in government buildings is a step forward towards recognising the contribution of women to the workforce.
Prof Datin Dr Norizan Abdul Razak, who is the director of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia’s (UKM) Women’s Leadership Centre, said the 2019 Budget noted that while the move is welcome, attention should also be paid to having trained and certified caregivers.
“It is important to have trained and certified caregivers because for women who work in the private sector, they are often left with little choice but to drop off their kids with babysitters when they work,” she said.
She also suggested that the authorities study the possibility of opening daycare centres which operate beyond traditional office hours. This, she said, can help mothers who have two jobs.
“The availability of daycare centres which operate beyond office hours can at least help mothers from the low-income group take on more than one job,” she said.
The 2019 Budget, tabled by Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng, had also touched on encouraging and offering incentives to the private sector to provide equal job opportunities for women.
The government had also committed to increase the 30 per cent target of having women in decision-making roles. At present, only 32.2 per cent of women are board members out of the 100 main listed companies in Malaysia.
Norizan said the low percentage in the private sector showed that urgent intervention is needed to provide opportunity for women to secure higher positions.
“Among the initiatives which can be done include providing training as well as setting up a leadership academy which focuses on developing women leaders of the future,” she said.
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