SHAH ALAM, 23 Dec: The state government will launch the initiative to enable women who are working in the government sector or government-linked companies (GLCs) to be able to work from home or have flexible working hours.
The Chief Minister, Mohamed Azmin Ali, said that the effort should be undertaken immediately as the current and future options to prevent loss of talent and potential of women in the sector of skilled workforce.
He said that based on a study conducted, about 93 percent of women want to go back to work but 63 percent find it hard to do so on certain constraints.
“The country is highly investing on women through primary education up to the highest level and ignoring this investment is a collective tragedy.
“We need to formulate policies, reforms and a new shift in the way jobs are done such as introducing flexible hours for women and working from home to address this challenge so that the country does not lose the skills of women,” he said.
He said this when opening the Selangor Women’s Leadership Convention 2014 at the Holiday Villa Hotel today.
Also present was the Chief Minister’s wife, Shamshida Taharin, and the Exco for Health, Welfare, Women’s Affairs and Family, Dr Daroyah Alwi.
In addition, Mohamed Azmin said that the Selangor government will also provide free Wi-Fi facilities with 2,500 hotspots as an aspect of the support system that can help women working from home.
He said that it is important to provide a support system for women to enable them to continue to contribute to the economy so that it can be handled smartly.
“If this effort can be undertaken, it can help in the growth of household income and at the same time address a number of issues that have risen.
“Failure to pay attention to this matter will lead to wastage of resources and the potential of human capital from women,” he added.
In the meantime, Mohamed Azmin also hopes for more women to be given the opportunity to become candidates in the next general election.
“In the political aspect, the number of Malaysian women’s representation in Parliament was also recorded among the lowest among Asean countries with a rate of 10.4% compared to Thailand 13.3%, Indonesia 18%, the Philippines 22.1%, Singapore 22.2% and Vietnam 22.3%,” he said.
NS