KUALA LUMPUR: Women holding decision-making positions in government agencies in Malaysia currently stands at 38.2 percent, the Dewan Rakyat was told today.
Deputy Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Siti Zailah Mohd Yusoff said these government officials held the positions of JUSA C grade and above.
Women representation in the top 100 public limited companies' (PLC) board of directors (BOD) currently stands at 25.8 per cent, she said.
At the Dewan Rakyat, 15 per cent (33 people) of the 220 seats were held by women members of parliament, with two seats still vacant and 15 per cent (eight women representatives) at the Dewan Negara out of the 57 members (17 others vacant).
According to the Malaysian Gender Gap Index (MGGI) released last year, there was a clear gender gap, with a score of 0.108 out of the 1.0 full score, she said.
She said the government, through the ministry, supports any effort to improve involvement of women in leadership roles, including in decision-making.
"The government had in 2004 announced a policy to set a 30 per cent target for women representation as decision makers in the public sector.
"The ministry is of the view that efforts to improve women participation in parliament is the fundamental responsibility of all political parties as it depends solely on the number of seats allocated to women electoral candidates," she said in reply to questions from Nor Azrina Surip (PH-Merbok) and Fuziah Salleh (PH-Kuantan).
In addition, Siti Zailah said the environment must allow women to be productive, starting with instilling interest among them through training and education, as well as implementing efforts to diminish any form of discrimination that could hinder their participation in leadership and politics.
She said gender-sensitive programmes also played a significant role as they allowed awareness on the importance of women's involvement in policy-making as a member of parliament.
She said efforts to improve women participation was systemic in nature that needed much attention to get rid of stereotypes that limit the involvement of women in some fields.
The ministry has conducted various advocacy programmes to improve awareness on gender and leadership capacity, she said.
"This year up to August, the ministry had organised 178 programmes, with 95,182 participants to realise its role in women empowerment.
"Women are just as capable, but may need some encouragement and support, so they can play their roles in the country."
In a press conference later, Siti Zailah acknowledged the challenges faced by women electoral candidates and that political parties would field those they felt had a higher chance of winning.
"Women must be more daring, especially the youth, in coming forward and take up the challenge and get used to facing the community (in politics).
"I'm saying this not to discredit the men, but from what I can see, some women elected representatives seem more committed and focused on their tasks," she said, adding that the public also played an important role in advocating women empowerment.