FLEXIBLE WORKING OPTION FOR MALAYSIAN WOMEN

The government will consider allowing women to opt in and out of work to cater
for their family commitment.

The proposal by the Deputy Prime Minister, Dato’ Sri Mohd. Najib Tun Abdul
Razak is timely as some organisations stand to lose their good female workers
who are stuck in a situation to choose between family and work.

The Deputy Prime Minister said this when opening the Women’s Summit 2007
organised by the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development on 2
August 2007 at the Sime Darby Convention Centre in Kuala Lumpur.

He said, women with family commitments need not quit their job after giving birth,
but will be allow opting out of work for a while and returning later when their
children have become more independent. There is a need to be creative and
flexible because the world now is different and women should be allowed to
participate in the economic development of the country.

Women have emerged as true leaders and women can make a difference to the
nation. Therefore, it is important that women are given the right opportunity, right
education and the right mindset for the empowerment of women, he added.

Almost 2,000 participants attended the summit, with the theme ‘Putting Women
at the Heart of Development.’

However, said the Deputy Prime Minister, the women concerned will risk losing
their seniority if they chose to opt out for a while from the workforce. But, women
will not mind losing that, if they could devote more time for their children, he
added.

Describing it as a global trend, he said, women have contributed almost RM55

billion to the country’s gross domestic product.

“The government acknowledged and valued the role of women in development

and economic growth increases when women are given more opportunities in
education and employment”.

Dato’ Sri Mohd. Najib also said that Malaysian women had benefited from greater
access to education and training. There are only 77 female undergraduates from
the University of Malaya in 1959, as compared to now where female students
outnumbered males by a ratio of 61:39.

In terms of women’s participation in the labour force, it has also increased from
30.8 per cent to about 46 per cent between 2000 and 2006.

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Dato’ Sri Sharizat Abdul Jalil, Minister of Women, Family and Community
Development, in her welcoming remarks, said that 14 programmes has been
outlined by her ministry to cater for all target groups. The emphasis on the
summit is to get feedback and share experiences and to look seriously into the
“work life balance”, which must be considered as a business issue.

With women as half of the country’s population and half of the workforce, women
should be made equal partner both in business and at home, as no society can
prosper if half of its population are not given the opportunity to progress.

She said that women are an important human capital and the economic
development of the country.

The Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development has been

organising the Women’s Summit since 2003. The summit brought together
international and Malaysian thought leaders, policy developers and women from
all sectors to address issues that impact upon women’s ability to realise their full
potential.

The summit was held in two sessions. Panel Session One was moderated by
Datuk Rafiah Salim, Vice Cancellor from the University of Malaya, to discuss on
the topic “Are women giving up too much? Adapting work environments to retain
female expertise and experience”.

Ms. Leslie Bennetts, author of ‘The Feminine Mistake’ and contributing editor to
Vanity Fair, USA, Ms. Barbara Holmes, Director of Managing Work/Life Balance
International Australia and Ms. Josefine van Zanten, Head of Diversity and
Inclusiveness, Shell International, The Netherlands are the panel speakers for
the session.

Ms. Leslie Bennetts said the phenomenon where women left their careers to care
for their families is a serious economic issue, as these women are mostly young
and educated people. Considering it as a risky option, she said, these women
will become fully dependent on their husband’s incomes to support their children
and themselves.

“Being financially dependent on their husbands, will place women in a vulnerable

position, especially with rising divorce rates and women outliving men,” she
added.

Ms. Josefine van Zanten, from Shell International said that Shell will be
implementing a “Stay-In-Touch’ programme where Shell will keep in touch with
women who are leaving the company, as they might want to come back in two or
three years time.

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Ms. Barbara Holmes stressed on the increasing challenges faced by women who
choose to continue working after starting a family.

“With an aging labour force, the increase of the average retirement age and the
workforce becoming more and more multi-generational, it is becoming
increasingly challenging for women to find a balance,” she added.

While Session Two which focussed on the topic ‘Rocking the cradle, ruling the
world: Succeeding at home and at work’, was moderated by Prof. Dato’ Dr.
Sharifah Hapsah, Vice Chancellor, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.

The speakers are Ms. Chong Sheau Ching, Founder and Executive Director of
eHomemakers, Ms. Helen Read, Managing Director of Ms Read Boutique and
Dr. Kamal Jit Singh, Regional Director of British Telecom Multimedia Malaysia
(BTMM).

Dr. Kamal Jit Singh, Regional Director of BTMM said that, it’s time for women to
think differently and creatively. “Don’t give birth to small idea, but give birth to
kings and break the glass ceiling,” he added.

The summit ends with a roundtable session and learning labs. The Roundtable
Session was divided into focus group reports by the private corporations, public
sector, entrepreneurs and NGOs. The focus group recommendations to the
government, among others are to impress upon the civil servants the importance
of balancing work and life, increase maternity leave from two months to three,
provide flexible working hours, provide incentives for technology devices that
enable women to work from home, provide direct services, online services and
setting up of call centres to access information easily and the enforcement of
laws that help women with disabilities.

While the learning labs are specialised workshops for smaller groups of
participants, designed to enhance their skills and improve their approaches to
work. The learning labs, which were divided into four workshop sessions,
presented the following topics:

• Money for Life (Financial Planning and Access to Funding)

• Nurturing Innovation
• Completely at Home with Work: Bringing Down the Borders Between
Work and Home
• Communicating with Confidence

As Malaysia celebrates its 50th year of nationhood this year, women’s

empowerment is the essence for greater freedom and control over important
decisions that affect their lives. As the Minister of Women, Family and
Community Development said “Women are making it very clear that they do not

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want to choose between succeeding at home or succeeding at work. They want
to succeed in life.”