SUHAKAM’s REPORT TO THE UNITED NATIONS COMMITTEE ON
ELIMINATION OF DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WOMEN
(ii)
Women Achievement In Labour Force
a) According to Number of Employed Persons by Industry and Sex 2011,20 Malaysian women
dominated in several fields of employment, among others, education, activities of households as
employers; undifferentiated goods and services producing activities of households for own use,
human health and social work activities and financial and insurance/ takaful activities. In the
field of education, 66.7% were women compared to only 33.3% men. However, the number of
women in decision-making levels in the Education Sector in 2011 and 2012 such as primary
school headmaster, secondary school principal and residential school principal was less than
men. As of 31 January 2012, only 3,774 females held decision-making positions in the education
system compared to 6,063 males.21
b) According to the Number of the Registered Professionals by Sex in 2011 -2012,22 there was an
increase in the percentage of registered women professionals from 2010 to 2011. From the
existing data, only the dentistry profession is dominated by women with 63.2% in 2012 and
62.8% in 2011. Professions such as Professional Architects, Architects, Professional Engineers,
Graduate Engineers, and Land Surveyor are still dominated by men; this is probably due to
gender stereotyping in the labour market for technical workforces.
(iii)
Representation of Women In Politics
a) As of 15 July 2013, only 2 female Ministers out of 32 Ministers; and as of 14 June 2013, there are
only 5 female Deputy Ministers out of 25 Deputy Ministers. There are 16 female senators out of
54 Senators and 23 females out of 222 representatives in the House of Representative as of 1
October 2013. This scenario shows that the low participation of Malaysian women in the
political arena compared to the men.
(iv)
Women Decision Makers In Malaysia In Public and Private Sector
a) Under the Tenth Malaysia Plan (2011-2015), there is a policy to increase the number of women
at key decision-making level. According to the statistics, the number of women as Secretary
20
Ibid p. 16 and 17.
Ibid p. 73.
22
Ibid p. 18, 2011 and 2012 – as at mid-year.
21
10