KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 6 — Malaysia must take decisive measures to reduce the disparity between men and women in the workforce to achieve its ambition of becoming a developed economy, said Nurul Izzah Anwar.

In a statement today, the co-head of secretariat for the advisory committee to the finance minister said female graduates have higher unemployment rates than their male counterparts despite significantly outnumbering them in local universities.

"Under the Madani economy framework launched by the prime minister, the government plans to increase the female labour force participation rate to 60 per cent, making it more comparable with regional countries,” she said at the Khazanah Megatrends Forum on October 2.

Nurul Izzah said that one critical aspect of gender equality is facilitating the return of women to work after childbirth.

"In the Budget 2023, the government allocated RM290 million in grants, equivalent to 80 per cent of the Social Security Organisation contributors’ salaries, to benefit over 130,000 women returning to work after childbirth.

"This is estimated to benefit over 130,000 women returning to work after childbirth,” she said.

Nurul Izzah also commended the Selangor and Penang state governments for initiating childcare facility programmes and highlighted the government’s grant scheme for the private sector to establish childcare centres at workplaces, supporting women’s return to work.

She said the government has also announced plans to streamline the registration process and expand the childcare centre and nursery whitelisting programme nationwide, with an allocation of RM10 million.

Regarding the informal sector, Nurul Izzah acknowledged the lack of sufficient data on gender labour participation.

"However, studies have shown that women form the majority of workers in the informal sector both locally and globally.

"The government is working hard to ensure more accurate and comprehensive data collection as even current databases, whilst robust and form a good start — such as recipients of the Sumbangan Tunai Rahmah programme, do not accurately portray the true picture of the informal sector, despite drawing data from over 30 ministries and agencies,” she added.

She also urged the private sector and the public to take advantage of government schemes and programmes, fostering a joint effort to narrow the gender gap in workplaces.

On the same note, she lauded the Public Sector Open Data Portal’s recent launch as a significant step toward making essential data available to Malaysians.

However, she stressed the need for more inclusive data covering the informal sector.

Nurul Izzah also expressed optimism about the GovTech Nucleus Unit, an initiative recently announced by the prime minister to enhance public service delivery.

"Drawing inspiration from similar successful units in Singapore and the UK, I hope that the unit will deliver innovative digital solutions in 2024 to improve public sector productivity and benefit the people,” she said.