Aid to empower women to be given in targeted manner - Nancy

KUALA LUMPUR: Assistance for women, especially to empower their economy through business, will be given in a targeted manner to ensure that it benefits the group involved, said Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri.

She said women had benefitted a lot from aid provided by the government through the e-Kasih system, especially for purchase of equipment to start their businesses.

However, she said, that due to certain circumstances, some of the help provided did not meet the needs of the group.

"So we have to be selective in terms of providing assistance because the effort to empower the economy is not only by providing assistance with business equipment, but to give support to them in terms of knowledge, skills and education as well.

"If the aid recipient does not have the knowledge to convince and empower herself, then the person woll be in a difficult situation, So, we (the government) have to look at this aspect comprehensively," she told a press conference after opening the Post-15th General Election (GE15) Women's Political Leadership Forum, with the theme "Moving Forward", here today.

Meanwhile, Nancy described as a progressive and positive signal for women with the increase in the number of female candidates who won in GE15 and were appointed to the Cabinet.

She thanked Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim for appointing women to hold important portfolios in the government, such as Minister of Education, Minister of Health, Minister of Youth and Sports and Minister of Law and Institutional Reform.

"These are vital strategic positions for issues such as keeping girls in school, providing women and family healthcare and support systems or getting the younger generation involved in activism and volunteerism," she said.

In another development, Nancy said the ministry would ensure operators of shelter homes for children abide by all stipulated regulations, saying that she had received information that some children at these homes were not well-looked after, despite the operators getting allocations or grants from the government.

"Although the allocation is not much, we (Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development) want to make sure that they (operators of shelter homes) really want to do the job because they need to have the passion to make it work," she added.

-- BERNAMA