Speaking at a webinar, Adeeba said many young female doctors struggle to undertake the specialist training programme because the timing coincides with the ticking of their biological clock, that is, the desire to start a family and juggle the responsibilities that come with it.

“Many women at this point in their lives try to find a balance between their career, studies, and family, all at the same time.

“These women need support, not only from their families but the government too, especially in the provision of childcare and elderly care. It is important,” she said.

However, Adeeba, the dean of Universiti Malaya’s Faculty of Medicine, said that women need to believe in themselves, put themselves forward, and demand the positions that they deserve.

“I may be stereotypical but women are more self-effacing, particularly Malaysian women. That has to change,” she said.

Sharing similar sentiments, consultant obstetrician and gynecologist Dr Imelda Balchin said that many men support women but it is the institutions that need to catch up.

“What we need is a changed mindset that men and women are seen as employees with families and responsibilities and not by their gender.

“Men in leadership positions usually enjoy the benefit of having women doing work at home, whereas you don’t see that with women in leadership positions – they are expected to juggle both.

“Covid has positively changed that whereby we have become decentralised (work from home) so more women can take on these leadership roles and men can be with their families,” she said.

Sime Darby Foundation chief executive officer Yatela Zainal Abidin stressed the importance of institutionalised support in all fields, and not limited to corporate companies.

She said that as of now, Sime Darby Plantation has 38 female estate and mill assistants and managers, in an industry that is largely male-dominated.