Women representation in decision-making roles in public-listed companies reached only 22% as of last year, still trailing the 30% target set for the nation and way behind the 38% already achieved by the public sector.
When drilled down to individual sectors, the numbers are even more sobering. For instance, in areas such as venture capital, women account for only 14% of the decision makers, according to the Malaysian Venture Capital Private Equity Association.
In start-ups, women do quite badly. They receive only 1% of all the funds raised for new businesses, compared with 91% for men.
Reason for the imbalance
Dhiva Karthik, a managing consultant at human resource consultancy CXL Group, has offered a reason for the disparity.
Enterprises, he told FMT Business, have strong, robust practices that could mitigate such bias.
“(But) to get women representation, a (public-listed) company has to go out of its way to identify suitable woman leaders,” he said.
Nonetheless, Dhiva said, his company is already taking steps to help businesses get more women into senior roles.
But there are challenges, too. He said an automated screening of resumes can help to eliminate the bias in the process of choosing a candidate but it does not work for senior positions.
Difficult to get promoted
On the other hand, Junaida Abdul Hamid, CEO at Winner’s Innovative Empowerment Network (WIEN), has a different take on the issue.
“In the private sector, hiring is not as big an issue as promotion and career advancement for women,” she told FMT Business.
The proverbial glass ceiling is still quite intact in the private sector.
But where Dhiva is concerned, on the matter of creating opportunities for women to make career advancement on merit, the glass ceiling is only part of the problem.
“Some companies even make it a policy to require at least one woman be considered for every role. However it is near impossible to find those who are keen on jobs such as riggers and underwater welders,” he said.
Therein lies another problem — finding a job in an environment suitable and conducive for women.
According to the Malaysian Employers Federation (MEF), human resource managers should be appropriately trained on the principles of fair employment practices so they select candidates based on merit.
Nonetheless, a change may already be on the horizon.
Longer maternity leave a plus
According to Junaida, who is also a HR consultant, the passage of an amendment to the Employment Act to extend maternity leave from 60 days to 98 days will give women greater flexibility over their career choices.
“This ensures that women no longer have to choose between family and career,” she said.
Most companies will not have trouble adhering to the new requirement, Dhiva said, pointing out that three months of leave in a career that could stretch up to a decade is “not much”.
“It will encourage the best of them to come out and work,” he said.
He said this would only be a challenge to the small and medium enterprises that do not have enough resources.
Advancing women’s careers in the workforce
Junaida said an organisation that adopts a parental leave policy shows it cares for its employees and that could translate to higher employee retention and lower attrition rates.
“Employees should be educated on the importance of parental leave, while businesses can create clarity around career tracks and promotions when the employee returns to work.
“Parents need an assurance that their career will not be affected,” she said.
Junaida added that steps can be taken to help new parents reintegrate into the system, while managers and peers can learn to ease the path back to work for them.