LONDON, Dec 15 — The third Malaysia Women and Girls Forum (MWGF), which will focus on boosting women's participation in the workforce, was launched by Women, Family, and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri today.

In her keynote speech, Nancy said that there is a national-level need to strategically address the main impediments to womens’ participation in the labour force.

"Increasing women’s economic participation can triple Malaysia’s economic recovery efforts, which will afford us much needed economic resilience in the challenging post-pandemic years to come,” she said at the Sime Darby Convention Centre in Bukit Kiara.

Nancy also quoted the 2019 World Bank report, "Breaking Barriers”, which said: "If all economic barriers are removed for women in Malaysia, the country's income per capita could grow by 26.2 per cent, implying an average annual income gain of RM 9,400.”

During the opening speech, Karima El Korri, the United Nations Resident Coordinator for Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei Darussalam, said that the female labour force participation rate (LFPR) stands at 55.6 per cent as of July 2022.

She said meanwhile, male LFPR is at 82.5 per cent.

The forum is streamed "live” on the United Nations Population Fund Malaysia (UNFPA) Facebook page.

Among the presentations will be the soft launch of a study titled "Enhancing Human Capital Through Sexual & Reproductive Health Investments & Family Support Policies in Malaysia."

The study was jointly conducted by UNFPA, the Prime Minister’s Department’s Economic Planning Unit and the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health.

Other speakers and panellists are Ampang MP Rodziah Ismail, Kampung Tunku state lawmaker Lim Yi Wei, Dr Asa Torkelsson who is the UNFPA Malaysia representative, as well as Yayasan Chow Kit co-founder Datuk Hartini Zainudin.

The event can be watched via the link, while further details can be browsed at the MWGF's website.

The event has been running since 2020, with the 2020 forum titled "Women & Girls at the Heart of Covid-19 Recovery” and the 2021 edition titled "Bodily Autonomy: Ensuring Rights & Choices for Malaysia's Women & Girls.”