Government to raise number of women as decision-makers by 2016

The government, through its Strategic Reform Initiatives (SRIs) or human capital development (HCD) will increase the number of women as decision-makers by 30 per cent by 2016.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said through the SRIs or HCD, the government hopes to increase the number of women in the workforce to 55 per cent by year-end.

"The government hopes that private companies provide the neccessary facilities to empower the role of women in the country through the implementation of women-friendly policies at workplaces.

"Women are the backbone and our partner in our country's development. Therefore, the welfare and state of affairs of women has always been a major agenda for the government," he said in his speech at the launch of the Economic Transformation Programme Annual Report 2014 in the capital, Tuesday.

Najib said technical and vocational education training initiatives will be given attention by the government under the 10th Malaysia Plan and will be reinforced by the relevant ministries to speed up the development of a skilled workforce.

"Under the SRIs and HCD, our achievement in the skilled workforce sector has been very encouraging in the last three years.

"Hence, we will continue to increase the number of skilled workers to 50 per cent of the workforce by 2020," he said.