KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has called for a clear change to be made to increase the participation of women in top-level decision-making in the private sector, including at government-linked companies (GLCs) and government investment-linked companies (GLICs).

The prime minister said this was important because according to a report from the Securities Commission Malaysia, women made up only 29 per cent of board members of companies in the private sector as at Dec 31, 2022.

In the government sector, women participation at the top level had increased but there was still room for improvement, he said.

"In the public sector, the number of women civil servants at the decision-making level on top grade C and above has increased to 38.8 per cent.

"In the political sector, although the 15th general election results show that the percentage of women Members of Parliament dropped from 14.9 per cent in 2021 to 13.5 per cent in 2022, there was an increase in women candidates," he said when officiating at the International Women's Day 2023 celebration here today.

In this connection, Anwar said private companies should pay attention to this required change by giving opportunities for new appointments or promotions at the decision-making level to qualified women.

"I want change and definitely this change involves women with qualifications ... there must be clear progress so that we can emphasise the role of women," he said, and proposed that the number of women senators be increased.

On the i-Sayang initiative introduced by the Employees Provident Fund (EPF), the prime minister said there was a need to urge heads of government department, GLC and GLIC to ensure their workers make their share of contributions to the EPF accounts of their wives.

"i-Sayang is an initiative to enable husbands to voluntarily transfer two per cent EPF contributions to their wives' accounts, but even to increase a bit of contributions to wives is a problem.

"There seems to be some reluctance, so I think we need to strongly urge the heads of government department, GLC and GLIC to ensure their workers do the contribution, to ensure the security of their wife and mother of their kids," he said.

Also present at the ceremony were Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri, Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek and Anwar's wife and Bandar Tun Razak MP Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.

-- BERNAMA