PUTRAJAYA has made a positive move in addressing the needs of women in giving tax exemptions and providing allocation of RM30 million for childcare facilities in Budget 2020, said Women’s Aid Organisation (WAO).

WAO executive director Sumitra Visvanathan said that they are pleased with the government’s commitment, especially in schools and hospitals, which is a significant and welcomed increase.

“For years we’ve known that Malaysia needs to improve female labour force participation, both to build a robust economy and to ensure women’s economic rights.

“Now, the government is putting in some financial commitment towards achieving this,” she said.

Women between the ages of 30 and 50 who re-enter the job market after not working for a year or more will be exempted from paying income tax for four years until 2023, the government has proposed under Budget 2020.

Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng, when tabling the budget today, said this #WanitaKerja (Women@Work) initiative was aimed at creating 33,000 jobs a year for women in that age category.

Sumitra said access to childcare facilities will enable more women to participate in the workforce, as currently, more than 2.5 million women in Malaysia are not working due to “housework or family responsibilities”.

“We are excited to hear about the Women@Work incentives for women and companies, to encourage and enable women to return to work,” she said.

She also said public funding for childcare is critical because it is largely out of reach for many parents, especially those from low-income groups.

“In 2017, only 6.9% of children aged 0 to 4 were enrolled in childcare, according to a World Bank report.

“We would like to see more details on how many parents and children will benefit from this, and whether this benefits lower income families as well,” Sumitra said.

She said that they also welcomed the government’s proposed amendments to the Employment Act.

“This is including increased paid maternity leave, improved sexual harassment protection, and prohibition of discrimination on the basis of gender, race, and religion.”

Sumitra added that they look forward to seeing the rest of the amendments to the Employment Act.

“This includes paid paternity leave – which we hope to be at least seven days. We also urge the government to ensure prohibition of discrimination includes discrimination against job seekers, not just employees.

“These improvements should also be extended to the Sabah Labour Ordinance and the Sarawak Labour Ordinance.” – October 11, 2019.