Malaysia told to speed up reforms for gender equality
PETALING JAYA: The World Bank has urged Putrajaya to show urgency in undertaking reforms in the interest of economic equality between the sexes.
Tan Mei Ling, the World Bank’s senior country operations officer and gender focal point for Malaysia, made the call in the wake of a report showing that Malaysia is behind its neighbours in the realm of gender equality.
In the World Bank’s 2021 Women, Business and Law Report, Malaysia has a score of 50 for its Women, Business and the Law index, whereas Singapore scored 82.5, Indonesia 64.4 and Myanmar 58.8.
Tan said the main factor for the low score was Malaysia’s performance in the areas of “having children, starting a job and getting paid”.
Malaysia scored a 0 for the “having children” category, which Tan said was because it fell below international norms in the number of legally mandated days for maternity leave.
“There is no provision for paternity or parental leave, there is no law that prohibits the dismissal of pregnant women and there is an absence of a pension system that takes into account periods of child care.”
She told FMT this was reflective of prevailing civil labour and gender laws here as well as the absence of laws against gender discrimination in employment.
“But achieving full gender equality will require more than changes to laws,” she said.
“The laws also need to be meaningfully implemented, and that requires sustained political will, strong leadership and engagement and changes to ingrained cultural norms and attitudes.”
Tan said Malaysia could “definitely overcome” some issues highlighted in the report.
She pointed out that there were several labour and gender law reforms, including the sexual harassment bill, that were slated to be tabled in Parliament.
“They have gone through the due diligence process of internal and external stakeholder consultations, inter-ministerial engagements and reviews by the Attorney-General’s Chambers,” she said.
She urged the government to abolish restrictions on women working at night or underground in Sections 34 and 35 of the Employment Act, saying other laws and provisions could be enacted to protect workers.
She also said non-discrimination in employment and equal remuneration for work needed to be legally mandated in all relevant labour laws, noting that the Federal Constitution prohibits gender discrimination.
Tan called for the passage of the Gender Equality Act and the Sexual Harassment Act to address the lack of criminal penalties and civil remedies for sexual harassment in employment.
“Addressing this issue and extending legal protection beyond workers covered by the Employment Act to self-employed and gig economy workers would constitute important further progress,” she said.
She also called for the introduction of paternity or parental leave, saying this would show the shared responsibility of mothers and fathers in taking care of children.
She said termination of employment during pregnancy should be prohibited, pointing out that focus group discussions conducted by the World Bank had shown that some women kept their pregnancies hidden from their employers to keep their jobs.
She added that maternity leave should be extended to at least 14 weeks after childbirth, “in line with the internationally recognised minimum codified in the International Labour Organisation’s Maternity Protection Convention”. - FMT
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