PERCENTAGE OF WOMEN APPOINTED ON BOARDS OF PLCs, GLCs DISCOURAGING

SINTOK (Kedah, Malaysia), July 26 (Bernama) -- The percentage of women
appointed to high positions in the corporate and public sectors is discouraging,
according to the NAM Institute for the Empowerment of Women (NIEW).

Its director, Dr Rafiah Salim, said the percentage of women on the boards of
public-listed companies was only seven per cent while those ofgovernment-linked
companies stood at between 11 and 13 per cent.

"The situation is discouraging," she said in her opening remarks at the
national seminar on contemporary women issue, 'Towards Establishment of Asean
Women Institute' at University Utara Malaysia (UUM) here Tuesday.

She suggested that business schools in universities include an aspect of
gender parity into their business management programmes to expose graduates to
the importance of addressing gender issues in the corporate world.

Rafiah said the recent announcement by Prime Minister Najib Razak to have at
least 30 per cent women in the decision-making levels of the corporate sector
could be achieved in five years.

She said many women were not employed because of skewed perception about
women's ability to perform, adding that many organisations were not sufficiently
flexible to cater to the needs of women when they bore children or had other
family commitments.

"Nearly all organisations fight shy of having flexibility at work. In fact,
the Malaysian Employers Federation is still resisting the policy of providing
three months' maternity leave.

"When we talk about equal rights for men and women, there are till instances
of women being discriminated against, because of their gender," noted Rafiah.
-- BERNAMA