Budget 2015: Women give thumbs up to sustainable development

Among new initiatives introduced is the Strengthening Women Directors Programme aimed at achieving 30 percent participation of women in strengthening decision-making groups.

Under this programme, a total of 125 potential women directors will be trained to fill the positions as board members of government-linked and private sectors companies.

“I'm very happy that there’s almost an affirmative policy for women at management level,” said Centre for Strategic Engagement (CENSE), Fui K. Soong.

In a survey conducted by CENSE this year, she revealed that 66 percent of women respondents agreed that gender discrimination is among the main reasons women employees were not promoted at workplaces.

“As we move towards a more advanced (nation) level, gender discrimination doesn’t happen at the hiring level but at the promotion level," she said.

Fui lauds the 1Malaysia Support for Housewife programme that emphasises skills training and incentivises housewives and improve opportunities for women to return to the job market.

“The programme is a very important incentive in improving women’s skills at the level they were, even after leaving the workforce. This is a way to keep the population productive," she added.

Under the similar initiative, Najib announced the Women Career Comeback Programme (WCC) to encourage women to return to the workforce particularly after giving birth.

UNICEF Malaysia Social Policy Specialist, Maya Fachrani Faisal gives her seal of approval to the move and urged private sectors to follow suit.

“We are talking about nursing mother programmes and childcare centres at workplaces and the flexibility to work from home,” she said.

For civil servants, the government will improve the Child Care Leave eligibility by revising the conditions so it is not tied to the duration of maternity leave, effective January 1, 2015.

The leave is limited to children until they reach one year and extended to female personnel with stepchildren, legally adopted children, foster children as well as children with disabilities.

“The private sector should encourage a conducive working environment for women to return to the workforce. It doesn’t mean that a woman’s career is over once she gets pregnant and has a child,” said Maya.

"Women should be given the time to take care of their child and encouraged back to the workforce without losing their positions at work,” she added.

Entrepreneur Eliza Noordin said she is looking forward to the incentives for women entrepreneurs and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).

Aimed at Young Professional Women Entrepreneurs Development Programme, the RM50 million incentive is expected to benefit 5,000 professional women.

“This budget is very good, diverse and encompasses the needs of women entrepreneurs,” said Eliza, co-founder of Nashata.com.

“I hope to see more e-commerce programmes to help us expand our businesses abroad and increase the country’s exports” she said.

As part of the government’s efforts to improve women safety, it will buy the premises for the Women Special Protection Homes in the Eastern, Northern and Central zones.

In addition to provide opportunities for single mothers interested in entrepreneurship, the government will continue the Single Mother Skill Incubator Programme (I-KIT), Women Entrepreneurship Incubator Programme (IkUnita) and Women Core Development Programme.