Focus on SMEs to boost women in workforce, says TalentCorp official
KUALA LUMPUR : A greater focus should be placed on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) as part of efforts to increase the number of women in the workforce, says a Talent Corporation Malaysia Bhd (TalentCorp) official.
TalentCorp's chief strategy officer Nazrul Aziz said it was necessary to further incentivise SMEs so that they would offer flexible working and caregiving arrangements to female employees.
'We have no issue with multinational corporations (MNCs) and GLCs. But for every 10 Malaysians, only three work for MNCs and GLCs.
'If we want to make a shift in the (labour market's) ecosystem, we need to focus on SMEs,' he said at a panel discussion on the World Bank's inclusive employment practices report launched here today.
Nazrul spoke in agreement with human resources minister Steven Sim, who earlier highlighted the low participation rate in women's career comeback programmes.
The TalentCorp official said SME employers needed to be further incentivised to support these programmes.
'We're providing tax incentives to companies that implement flexible working arrangements.
'But now, we have to focus more on SMEs, because MNCs and GLCs are already pretty much there (in supporting women's career comeback programmes),' he said.
He added that so far, about 3,000 companies have participated in TalentCorp's advocacy programmes promoting flexible working arrangements.
Former Women's Aid Organisation deputy executive director Yu Ren Chung said it was important to amend the Employment Act to outlaw discrimination against women during the hiring process.
'There's actually no law that prohibits companies from choosing not to hire someone because they might, for example, start a family.
'The Employment Act, right now, mostly covers employees, but there's no legal reason why it can't also tackle discrimination towards job seekers,' he said.
Previously, World Bank economists had spoken about Malaysia's struggle to retain women in the workforce. The government's target is to increase the female labour force participation rate to 60% by the end of the year.
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