KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 4 — Asking companies in Malaysia to reveal how much they pay their male and female staff could be a solution to women being paid less than men for doing the same work, a women’s rights advocacy group said.
The Women’s Aid Organisation (WAO) said this approach used by the UK could increase transparency regarding the gender wage gap.
“To narrow the wage gap, the government should require companies to report the average wage of men and women employees, the proportion of men and women employees in different salary brackets, and the proportion of men and women employees who receive bonuses.
“Transparency is important because women often don’t know that they are paid less than their male counterparts — and this lack of information enables the wage gap,” the group told Malay Mail.
Gender norms and gender discrimination laws
Khazanah Research Institute’s recent data showed a significant percentage of women stay outside the labour force due to housework and family responsibilities, while very few men cited this reason for doing so.
WAO said this showed a need to change gender norms and ensure that men and women share domestic work more equitably.
“To facilitate this, we should introduce paternity leave, which sends the message that childcare is also a man’s responsibility. The government also needs to improve access to affordable childcare,” the group said.
WAO said Malaysia needs to introduce a Gender Equality Act, believing that such a law would give the government a legal mandate to adopt measures to promote an enabling environment for women.
“This can include the provision of maternity benefits, parental leave, flexible working arrangements, job-sharing, part-time work, and so on. Additionally, the Gender Equality Act also enables the government to adopt temporary measures to facilitate women’s entry to fields or positions where they are under-represented,” it said.
WAO also pointed out the factor of gender discrimination and gender bias against women, noting that WAO’s 2016 survey had found 40 per cent of pregnant women faced discrimination in the workplace.
Women also faced discrimination even during interviews, where almost 40 per cent ïn the 2016 survey were asked if they were pregnant or had plans to become pregnant in the near future, WAO said.
WAO also cited research findings of “gender bias” where women are often perceived less favourably than men, and which affects women’s recruitment and career progression, adding: “Currently, there is no law that protects women from discrimination in the private sector, which is why we need a Gender Equality Act.”
It further suggested that women-dominated professions such as nursing and teaching are underpaid as society undervalues care work.
Petaling Jaya MP Maria Chin Abdullah said Malaysia’s existing laws are unable to deal with the gender wage gap, further noting that there is no specific law currently to prohibit workplace discrimination here.
“Existing laws like the Employment Act, Domestic Violence Act, Pensions Act and Penal Code should be amended to include provisions to help deal with gender discrimination in the workplace,” she said, adding that the new Pakatan Harapan government has said it would introduce the Gender Equality Act that women’s rights groups have long campaigned for.
While noting that women are entitled to a minimum 60 consecutive days of fully paid maternity leave under the Employment Act 1955, Maria said many women do not return after pregnancy as they do not always find the support they need from their employers.
“The government should look into making it easier for women to return to work,” she said.
Going beyond laws that allow workplace discrimination against women, Maria said there is a lack of support for women’s career development in Malaysia where traditional gender roles remain dominant.
“This problem is not just isolated to Malaysia. However, discriminatory laws and policies, a lack of awareness and society’s attitude towards women’s roles have definitely contributed to the gender pay gap difference in Malaysia.
“A woman is expected to give more importance to her household duties than her career development even if she is a highly qualified professional. Meanwhile, gender stereotypes also often cause many employers to pay more attention to things like likeability rather than hiring women on the basis of their achievements,” she said.
Batang Sadong MP Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri said that women are not paid as much as men because they lack technical knowledge, advocating that there should be more women pursuing studies in the fields of science, technology, and innovation (STI) as well as science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).
She also suggested a separate budget for the implementation of women empowerment programmes or policies, adding that both women and men be encouraged to work from home and with flexible working hours to improve the quality of life for families.
She said that men should be placed in positions overseeing gender, family and community programmes to ensure that there would no longer be a narrow view that only women should be assigned to such positions in government departments or institutions.
“Women’s rights are universal rights and they are connected with economic rights. For goodness’ sake, create a system for women to be protected.
“Lastly, women themselves have to know where they are heading to. We can have many policies and plans for women but they do not position themselves strategically, we will go back to square one,” she said.
Former senior civil servant Tan Sri Rebecca Fatima Sta Maria said she was glad that the issue of the gender wage gap was surfacing now, but said this was only for the private sector.
“In the civil service, we had equal pay for the longest time. That’s not a problem at all in the civil service; it’s in the private sector, so they need to fix it. I really think people should be paid on competence and not gender,” the former secretary-general of the Ministry of International Trade and Industry told Malay Mail.
