KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 13 — This year's Malaysia Women and Girls Forum (MWGF) will highlight women's participation in the labour force.

The event, scheduled for December 15, will be inaugurated by Women, Family, and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri and will feature speakers from the Malaysian government, academics and civil society groups based on the theme "Expanding Women's Rights Through Economic Equity”.

The forum is set to run from 10am until 4.30pm and will be streamed "live” on the United Nations Population Fund Malaysia (UNFPA) Facebook page.

According to MWGF, Malaysia’s women make up 50 per cent of the population, but have one of the lowest labour participation (LFPR) rates in the region.

"Our female LFPR currently stands at 55.6 per cent as of July 2022. Meanwhile, male LFPR registered at a healthy 82.5 per cent,” it said in a statement today.

The group said there were several factors that contributed to the low percentage among women that need urgent attention.

Among them a lack of family support policies such as paid parental leave, the scarcity of comprehensive sexuality education and lack of access to Sexual and Reproductive Health and Services (SRHR) such as family planning services.

It added that low coverage for screening and treatment of female cancers have kept women who were willing to work stuck at home.

"Gender norms and stereotypes, unpaid care work and the physical, emotional and psychological burdens of caregiving and disproportionate levels of multidimensional poverty faced by women further contribute to gender gaps in entrepreneurship, women’s participation in the informal labour force and overall low female LFPR,” it added.

Last year MWGF highlighted women's rights to decide their own lives and future under the theme "Bodily Autonomy: Ensuring Rights & Choices for Malaysia's Women & Girls”.

In 2020, Malaysian women and girls who were at the forefront of Covid-19 was the highlight, under the theme "Women & Girls at the Heart of Covid-19 Recovery”.

Among this year’s speakers and panellists are Karima El Korri, the UN resident coordinator for Malaysia, Singapore & Brunei Darussalam; Ampang MP Rodziah Ismail; Kampung Tunku state lawmaker Lim Yi Wei; Dr Asa Torkelsson who is UNFPA Malaysia representative; child rights activist and Yayasan Chow Kit co-founder Datuk Hartini Zainudin.

MWGF is funded and supported by the United Nations in Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei Darussalam and UNFPA.

MWGF collectively amplifies, tracks and provides proactive recommendations and solutions on the progress of advancing the rights and wellbeing of Malaysia’s women and girls.

To watch the event click the link here https://www.facebook.com/events/2009183855938721 and for further details on the event check out MWGF's website at https://www.mwgf.org/.