Gender Equality at The Workplace Malaysi

International Journal of Innovation and Business Strategy (IJIBS)/ Vol. 14, No.
2, June 2020
Gender Equality at the Workplace: Malaysia's Stance

and Prevailing Challenges
Noraliza Jalal, Reena Baskaran, Nirosha Tanga Rajoo, Sharmini Nair Prathaban, Prasath Ambalagan
Azman Hashim International Business School, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor Bharu, Johor,
Malaysia
Received 19 March 2020

Revised 18 May 2020
Accepted 20 May 2020
Abstract: To explore common aspects discussed by literature studies on gender equality in the
workplace. A meta-analysis was conducted by reviewing various resources such as journals and
articles. This research was using secondary data as their primary source, which is around 25 articles
regarding gender equality in the workplace. Women are the most affected group of the community
regarding this gender equality in the workplace as women were distinguished as the group of people
who lacks the technical and managerial skills which prevent them from achieving success in their
work. The government should take more measurements in order to motivate the employer to recruit
more female workers into their workplace and practice gender equality habits in the management.
Keywords: Gender equality, workplace, women, working mothers, challenges
Paper type: Research paper
1. Introduction
1957, Malaysia's independence mark the start of remarkable improvement in poverty reduction,
human development, and construction of its economic pillars. Employment acted as the primary
household income source and countable as productive participation in the country's economy and
society. Healthy employment is imperative in building and sustaining an economy as it evolves from
traditional to a modern economy, and female employment followed economic structural changes
from its reliance on agriculture to rising importance on industry and services (Ministry of Women,
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International Journal of Innovation and Business Strategy (IJIBS)/ Vol. 14, No. 2, June 2020
2007). The landscape of employment in Malaysia had shifted over time by women's involvement in
the workforce and foreign workers, both challenging but highly impacted the economy.
Gender equality has been described as the idea that every individual is able to develop their
personal capabilities and make choices without restrictions as a result of strict gender roles; and
differing attitudes, expectations and desires of men and women are equally recognized, respected and
favored (Olgiati and Shapiro, 2002). The notion of gender equality has become the center of
attention among the public and received significant devotion worldwide in recent decades,
particularly in female workforce participation, education, and health. Nevertheless, arguments
constantly dominated by two truisms: the fortunes of women at work in the twentieth century have
changed considerably and still slightly short of those enjoyed by men (Ruth Eikhof, 2012). Fairness
of treatment on gender basis in terms of rights, privileges, responsibilities, and incentives concisely
termed gender equity often being questioned. The absence of gender participation barriers in the
economy, politics, and society has become the stumbling block ensuring equal opportunities for both
women and men.
Countries, including Malaysia, allocate substantial attention to the narrow gender gap mainly
contributed by women's high barriers to enter the labor force. Since 2004, Ministry of Women,
Family, and Community Development (MWFCD) and United Nations Development Programme
(UNDP) applied Malaysia's Gender Gap Index (MGGI) as a tool to measure the effectiveness of
government and non-governmental organization interventions which aimed to integrate women into
diverse development processes and advocacy purposes while monitoring gender disparities trend.
Table 1. East Asia and the Pacific gender gap index, 2020
Country Rank Score
Regional Global
New Zealand 1 6 0.799
Philippines 2 16 0.781
Lao PDR 3 43 0.731
Australia 4 44 0.731
Singapore 5 54 0.724
Thailand 6 75 0.708
Mongolia 7 79 0.706
Indonesia 8 85 0.700
Vietnam 9 87 0.700
Cambodia 10 89 0.694
Brunei Darussalam 11 95 0.686
Fiji 12 103 0.678
Malaysia 13 104 0.677
China 14 106 0.676
Korea, Rep. 15 108 0.672
Myanmar 16 114 0.665
Timor-Leste 17 117 0.662
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Japan 18 121 0.652

Vanuatu 19 126 0.638
Papua New Guinea 20 127 0.635
Source: (World Economic Forum, 2019)
According to the Gender Gap Index, Malaysia was at 13th rank among East Asia and the Pacific
region. Meanwhile, globally, Malaysia stands at 104th among 153 countries. Surprisingly, Iceland,
Norway, Finland, Sweden, Nicaragua, New Zealand, Ireland, Spain, Rwanda, and Germany were
ranked in the top ten. Mexico, Madagascar, Spain, Cape Verde, and the Slovak Republic
domineering highest improvement by 25, 22, 21, 20 and 20 respectively by ranks. While in
comparison, Malaysia ranking dropped by 3 places from the previous year.
Despite a drop in the world ranking, Malaysia's Economic Report conveyed a promising pattern of
an annual increase in the female labor force participation rate (LFPR). Rapid economic growth,
better economic incentives in employment and policies, ideal years of schooling, easy access for
family planning services, better maternal and child care quality, as well as the rise in average age at
marriage, were found contributed to the higher rate of LFPR in Malaysia (Abu Bakar and Abdullah,
2007).
Table 2. Labor force participation rates by gender, 2010 – 2019

Gender 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
Male 79.3 79.7 80.5 81.0 80.6 80.6 80.2 80.1 80.4 80.8
Female 46.8 48.0 49.5 52.6 53.7 54.1 54.3 54.7 55.2 55.6
Total 63.7 64.5 65.6 67.3 67.6 67.9 67.7 68.0 68.3 68.7
Source: Department of Statistics Malaysia Official Portal
Department of Statistics Malaysia reported that women's participation in the labor force rose
steadily from 46.8 percent in 2010 to 55.6 percent in 2019. In contrast, male LFPR experiencing
unsteady growth and slowly progressing from 79.3 percent in 2010 improved to 80.8 percent by
2019.
58
Figure 1: Labor force participation rates by gender, 1990-2019

100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Male Female
Source: Department of Statistics Malaysia Official Portal
Female LFPR increased by 7.8 percent since 1990 from 47.8 percent 55.6 percent in 2019.
Compared to a decrease of 4.5 percent of male LFPR from 85.3 percent to 80.8 percent within a
similar time frame, it reflects the effectiveness of Malaysia's effort to optimistically narrow gender
gaps. Malaysia’s population in 2019 were at 32,581,400 with 16,830,600 male and 15,750,800
females. While a million difference, male LFPR stays steadily above 80 percent far from near female
LFPR with 25.2 percent difference to catch up and remains relatively large by countries comparison.
This meta-analysis aims to respond to the following questions:
• How organization able to embarks on ensuring gender equality;

• What are the common approaches implemented to promote gender equality; and
• What are the possible steps to undertake to narrow the gap?
A. Literature search strategy

This meta-analysis or systematic review was developed based on the Preferred Reporting Items for
Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) (Moher et al., 2009) guidelines completed in
April 2020. A Boolean inclusive search on electronic databases was conducted: Emerald, Elsevier,
Sage, ResearchGate, Human Science Press, Routledge, ScienceDirect, and Google Scholar. The
reference lists then further searched for additional explanations.
59
B. Inclusion and exclusion criteria

Initial screening on titles and abstracts was conducted on all studies retrieved and further analyses to
identify and remove any duplication and non-relevant studies. Inclusion criteria include various
methods of study from qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-method pertaining to gender equality.
Nevertheless, the review does not specify any geographical focus, and time-frame outline, thus draws
exclusion.
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2. Literature Review
Author(s) Title Country Study Objective(s) Type of Study Key Findings

and Year
(Ruth A Double- Not specified To uncover the secret gender Systematic Knowledge work, ICT, and work-
Eikhof, Edge Sword: implications of increasing empirical life balance policies improved
2012) Twenty-First information - seeking, ICT, and synthesize. temporal and geographical work
Century work-life balance policies. flexibility; thus, facilitate women
Workplace participation and enhance gender
Trends and equality.
Gender
Equality
(Olgiati Promoting European To identify and define Systematic review Gender equity should be
and Gender Union Corporate Equality. of case study specifically implemented in the
Shapiro, Equality in research. strategic planning process of a
2002) the To assess its influence on company.
Workplace gender equality.
To devise guidelines intended to

enhance workplace gender
equality.
(Lokshin Women's Romania To identify the effects of the Qualitative: Maternal commitment to
and Fong, Labour Force child care level, the wages of Structured becoming employed and use
2006) Participation mothers and the household questionnaire and external child care extremely price
and Child characteristics of household in-depth interviews. sensitive.
Care in actions regarding child care and
Romania maternal employment
61

and Year
(Boushey Working Washington To determine factors Mixed method: Parental care or relative care is the
and Mom and influencing preferable choices Structured most favorable source of child
Wright, Child Care of child care arrangement questionnaire and care as it is less expensive,
2004) among working mothers. significance test. especially for low-income
mothers.
State child care assistance
minimizes obstacles for working
mothers.
(Del Boca Child Care Italy To explore the determinants of Mixed method: Public policies and public
et al., 2005) Choices by child care use among families ISTAT Multiscopo childcare accessibility influence
Working with dual employees. and survey. its demand.
Mothers: The
Case of Italy The increase in the cost of public
childcare decreases public and
private childcare, which suggests a
change to informal childcare.
(Aminudin Gender Malaysia To study the progress of a Quantitative Women have the lowest chances
and differences in career between different gender structured: to join the research and
Abdullah, Career in an R & D department in a Interview between development department or career
2009) Advancement multi-national company. male and female prospects.
:A researchers.
preliminary
Study in R&D
organization
in Malaysia
62

and Year
(Ismail and Gender Wage Malaysia To study the effect of gender on Quantitative Results show that different gender
Jajri, 2012) Differentials wages in the labor market. structured: Surveys with different education
and with 2759 males backgrounds, races, cultures, and
Discriminatio and 1776 female regions do affect the wages that
n in workers. are proposed in the market.
Malaysian
Labor Market
(Perumal Challenges to Malaysia To study the factors that affect Quantitative The gender gap is one of the
and Break women's career development in research: factors that do affect career
Dastane, Corporate the IT department. Questionnaires advancement for women society in
2017) Glass Ceiling: distributed among the IT department.
What 150 workers in
Malaysian IT Cyberjaya,
Women Malaysia.
Employees
Perceive?
Challenges of Malaysia To identify and study the Mixed-method: Women face a strong gender
(Narayanan Women challenges by women to Survey, interviews, inequality especially in terms of
and Empowerment develop their career progress in and secondary data. their promotions, pay, benefits and
Selvanathan in a Private private organizations. also tasks that being allocated for
, 2017) Organization them in the workplace
in Malaysia
(Hutchings, Cultural Malaysia To study the gap in gender Qualitative: Semi- The norms and cultural beliefs still
2000) Norms and equality in Japanese and structured preventing the application of
Gender Australian oriented public interviews with 12 gender equality, where women are
63

and Year
Inequality in companies. different still not given a chance to perform
Malaysia Multinational in a high managerial position such
companies in as managers.
Malaysia.
(Fui and Women Left Malaysia To study the gap in female Systematic review Government is trying to improve
Lim, 2019) Behind? involvement in Malaysia's of case study every year in providing chances to
Closing the economy. research. women to excel in various fields
Gender Gap in of job
Malaysia
(Wei, 2015) Workplace Malaysia To research gender equality in Mixed-method: There is a strong relationship
Gender the workplace in terms of Survey and between those different genders
Equality: An benefits, promotion, pay, and questionnaires. factors and the benefits that
Exploratory many others. obtained by the workers
Study
(Rahman et Discrimination Malaysia To research the impact of Qualitative Practices are going on among hotel
al., 2019) against women gender and the standard hotel structure in-depth staffs where they wear different
in the dress code. interviews with the dress codes for different genders
workplace: hotel's staff. and also different races, too, with
Hotel Dress different levels of seniority in the
Code workplace.
(Kadiresan Workplace Malaysia To study the factor that affects Quantitative The factors that affect the
et al., 2015) Gender gender segregation in the structured Close- segregation of gender in the
Segregation: A workplace. ended workplace mostly are the culture,
Study from the questionnaires. occupations, religions, and the
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and Year
Students' salary that is paid for the work.
Perspectives
of Private
Higher
Learning
Institutions in
Klang Valley,
Malaysia
(Ler The A study on the Malaysia To study and evaluate the Convenience Women's education level, society's
Hui, 2014) barriers to challenges that have been sampling method: culture, family work-life balance
Malaysians facing by women in Malaysia's 150 surveys and factors do affect progress in
Women's industry. questionnaires Malaysian's women career effect.
career distributed from
advancement local respondents.
(Qinfen, Female Labor Malaysia To identify the factors that Quantitative: Time The rate of education and fertility
2017) Force affect the participation rate of series analysis. among female labor force
Participation women in the labor force by respondents seems statistically
in Malaysia: literature review. irrelevant and recommends that, in
Time-Series the future, growth in female labor
Evidence To determine the factors force participants is linked with an
influencing the participation increase in GDP and levels of
rate of women in the labor force education and a decrease in
in Malaysia. fertility rates.
To find the factor consequences
for policymakers in Malaysia.
65

and Year
(Schofield Gender Australia To analyze gender issues in Qualitative: Semi- Gender differences in
and Politics and public policy and institutions of structured policymaking are not carried out
Goodwin, Public Policy gender equality. interviews. in a structured and systematic way
2005) Making: that stifles objections and
Prospects for possibilities for reform. Gendered
Advancing policy-making activities have
Gender
various mechanisms that reflect
Equality
both possibilities and obstacles to
promoting gender equity in policy-
making.
(Abu Bakar Labor Force Malaysia To assess women's participation Quantitative: They were increasing labor force
and Participation in the Malaysian labor force. Econometric participation rates for women,
Abdullah, of Women in analysis. gains in productive activities for
2007) Malaysia women, and their strengthened
economic standing and increased
participation in education.
(Grosser Developments United To investigate the coverage of Mixed method: Recorded coverage of a range of
and Moon, in company Kingdom workplace gender equality Quantitative and performance details on gender
2008) reporting on among UK businesses claiming qualitative. issues outside the standard profile
workplace best practice. of the workplace, none of which
gender has been reported in earlier
equality? A research. Thus, despite the lack of
corporate
regulation, it indicates
social
responsibility considerable progress. Gender
mainstreaming practices have not
66

and Year
perspective advanced far in the reporting of
corporate human capital.
(Wu and Gender Chile To analyze Chilean producing Empirically study A more equalized distributed
Cheng, equality in the companies from 2001 to 2007. the semi-parametric workforce among female and male
2016) workplace: method. employees contributes to faster
The effect of To investigate whether gender productivity growth significantly.
gender equality is leading to increased
equality on High-skill employees are the
productivity.
productivity leading force in small businesses,
growth among while big companies are all
the Chilean To study gender equality among
ordinary-level employees respond
manufacturers different types of employees
consistently.
and their impacts on promoting
productivity as a company
grows.
(Lynette C., Part-time Europe To exam the effects of part-time In-depth study Policy level implemented at the
2015) work, work- work on work-life balance and Interviews with EU level shows little improvement
life balance, its potential negativity to gender organizations. as many well-qualified women
and gender equality. compromise by taking up under-
equality valued part-time jobs to sustain
To re-comment progress in part- their families.
time quality jobs and gender
Clearly shows gender equality still
equity at European companies.
has to go a long way, as the
traditional mentality of
responsibility towards childcare.
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and Year
(Musa N. Towards Malaysia To analyze the effort and steps Review of Federal There is
and Husin gender taken by the federal and state Constitution and a need to monitor employers and
A., 2019) equality in governments of Malaysia in State Policies. report cases of gender-
Malaysia: gender equality. discriminatory acts.
Legal and
policy To address the issue of whether The passing Gender Equality Law
perspectives Malaysia is ready for the in Malaysia is based on the court's
Gender Equality Bill. decision in view of 2 national
cases.
As Malaysia's constitution and
national religion supports gender
equality, a comprehensive plan of
action has to be made.
(Cavero- Public Spain To determine whether selected Mixed method: The study shows financial
Rubio J., recognition of governmental organizations in Quantitative and performance and work efficiency
Collazo- gender Spain can promote competitive qualitative. improved by adapting gender
Mazon A. equality in the advantage and bring positive equality in the workplace.
and workplace and returns in its financial
Amoros- its influence performance by adapting gender Managers of firms agree that
Martinez on firms' equality. institutional recognition of
A., 2019) performance equality results in a positive
impact on the company's external
reputation and internal efficiency.
(Veluti S., Promotion of Italy To examine gender equality Review of Female employment in Italy still
2008) gender mainstreaming in collective Legislative laws low despite collective bargaining
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and Year
equality at the bargaining amongst the and Internal due to traditional and patriarchal
workplace: industrial relations system in policies of trade systems.
Gender Italy. unions.
mainstreaming Although efforts are being
and collective underway to bridge the gap in
bargaining in gender equality, it has to be in a
Italy systematic reform involving
workplace democracy and
statutory demands imposed on all
public organizations.
(Elwer S., Patterns of Sweden To identify patterns and reasons Cluster Analysis Study shows that only women
Harryson L. gender associated with gender equality using the mixed succumbed to psychological
Bolin M. equality at in mental health. method: distress due to disadvantaged
and workplaces Quantitative and situations and unfair treatment as
Hammerstr and To examine work conditions for qualitative. compared to men.
om A., psychological women and men and its relation
Mental health among women and
2013) distress to psychological health
men can be improved if there is
outcomes.
gender equality in the workplace.
Therefore, health policies should
also consider gender equality as a
social determinant of health.
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3. Methodology
A. Prisma flow diagram
Records identified through Additional records identified

IDENTIFICATION
database searching through other sources

(n=49) (n =4)
Records after duplicates removed (n=53)

SCREENING
Articles screened based on title Articles excluded based on title

and abstract relevance and abstract relevance
(n=47) (n=6)
Full-text articles were assessed Full-text articles excluded

for eligibility (n=6)
(n=29)
List
ELIGIBILITY
Opinion pieces: (n=1)
Poor quality: (n=3)

INCLUDED
Total number of studies included in

synthesis (n=25)
Source: (Moher et al., 2009)
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4. Analysis
A. Cost of childcare, working mothers and household poverty
From the systematic review done in this study with the selected number of journals covering various
aspects of gender equality in the workplace, 45 percent of the studies cover an aspect of working
mothers, cost of childcare, and household responsibility. In the Malaysian context, the National
Education Policy is viewed as the basis of gender equality as education is provided equally to boys and
girls of all backgrounds. The Tenth Malaysia Plan Review (2011-2015) indicated that there are 9
percent and 2 percent of the rise in women's workforce participation and positions held in higher
management, respectively (Musa and Husin, 2019).
This indirectly, throughout post-independence, Malaysia has granted women to have access to their
own career paths and choices in their area of expertise professionally. Consequently, the cycle of life
keeps up with the so-called weaker gender when she marries and has children of her own, and
eventually, a need arises to establish a support system (Musa and Husin, 2019). The final position as a
mother, wife and career woman in Malaysian society is admired. However, it comes with a price
because upbringing and child careers deemed to be the responsibility of the mother, as traditional and
patriarchal system dominates the Malaysian society. The estimated cost of raising a child in 2018 is
seen in Figure 2 and is projected to rise in the coming years. (Ewer, Harryson and Hammerstrom, 2013)
has indicated that only women succumbed to psychological distress due to disadvantaged situations as
compared to men at the workplace.
The maternal decision of whether to be employed is highly sensitive according to the price range of
child care where, a decrease in cost will trigger a rise of numbers for working mothers and eventually
forces poverty in some households diminished (Lokshin and Fong, 2006). Malaysia's female LFPR
highly dominated by age group between 25 – 34 with 73.0 percent, followed by 35 – 44 and 45 – 54
with 67.6 percent and 62.0 percent, respectively. Nevertheless, males still surpassed women in all age
groups. Therefore, child care quality, location, flexibility, and affordability has become a critical issue
among women age between 25 to 44 (Boushey and Wright, 2004). Child care expenses in Washington
consumes 18.4 percent of household income among low-income mothers compared to high-income
mothers, with only 6.1 percent (Boushey and Wright, 2004). As the cost of public or private childcare
rises, working mothers continue to rely more on informal care than on alternative forms of formal
market care. (Del Boca et al., 2005).
Therefore, the Ministry of Women, Family, and Community Development implements various
policies and infrastructure to assist career women with multiple roles, for example, work from home
policy, flexible working hours, in-office nursery, and breastfeeding facilities at the workplace to ease
the cost of childcare. These efforts have proven to enhance living quality among working mothers and
even improving their performance at work if gender equality is adapted (Cavero-Rubio et al., 2019)
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Figure 2. The estimated cost of raising a child in Malaysia, updated in December 2018.
Source: The Edge Malaysia Weekly
B. Government policies and support system

Since gaining independence in 1957, the government of Malaysia has always supported and respected
women's right to contribute to the workforce which will eventually churn positive returns to the
country's economic wellbeing, thus believing that women's human and financial resources can be
achieved optimally (Gender Budgeting in Malaysia, 2005). However, discreetly, in many professions
nationwide, women are subjected to discriminatory actions by their employers and are merely victims of
the situation. Government policies and support systems in Malaysia on matters relating to gender
equality have only surfaced in recent decades post-independence. The Ministry of Women, Family and
Community Development consistently make sure gender elements in Malaysia's national policies are
considered to ensure non-discriminant governance in order to shape its economy and raise the living
standards of its citizens (Fui and Lim, 2019).
From the 25 reviews on the journals acquired from all over the world in this meta-analysis, most
countries implement policies, law enforcement, and passing bills to bridge the gap in gender equality. In
retrospect, the government, through its appointed ministry, the Ministry of Women, Family, and
Community Development strives to protect, enhance, and be the voice of women in various sectors.
According to the Constitution of Malaysia, under the Ninth Schedule, laws and policies on the
protection of women are mandated to federal and state governments (Musa and Husin, 2019). However,
our country's policymakers must view strategies and policies implemented in exemplary countries such
as the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia, where they have come a long way in voicing
and demanding rights for women in the workplace. For example, in the US during the Obama
administration has shown to encourage women's economic and political leadership through the creation
of the White House Council on Women and Girls. The United Kingdom has tabled its acts on gender
equality with the UK Equality Act 2010 and modifying the Sex Discrimination Act of 1975 by
promoting equal opportunities between men and women in the labor force. In Australia, there are efforts
to advance gender equality in public policy making because of the importance of equal representation in
power and authority (Schofield and Goodwin, 2005).
To date, Malaysia has its own National Women Policy, National Women Action Plan 2009, and
Gender Equality Bill 2017, all of which promote gender equality from an Islamic standpoint (Musa and
Husin, 2019) and prevail challenges posed by the community. In addition, the Gender Equality Bill
2017, the establishment of Gender Equality Commission is to make sure the mainstreaming of gender
equality will be able to bridge the gap between commitments made at international level and the reality
of women in Malaysia, in line with Malaysia's commitment to Convention on the Elimination of
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Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). The Commission also offers advice, guidance, and support
to both women and organizations on equal opportunities and rights in the workplace environment. This
clearly shows that Malaysia's stance in gender equality, on the whole, can be applauded, although more
comprehensive effort plans and studies need to be conducted. Nevertheless, all governmental policies
and support system must fundamentally abide by the Malaysian constitution that builds and protects the
Malaysian society.
C. Labor force participation

Human resources are the key driver for economic growth, social development, and technical progress.
In Malaysia, there is a study previously that the rate of involvement of women in the industry is lower
than males (Fui and Lim, 2019). In modern living, women's labor market participation contributes to the
growth economy. The amount of women's participation in the labor force slowly increases by years (Fui
and Lim, 2019). Still, Qinfen (2017) revealed that high rates of female labor force participation increase
workforce productivity, reduce inequalities, and help overall socio-economic development. However,
women's involvement in the labor market varies widely between countries, reflecting inequalities in
economic growth, parental education, child mortality, wage rates, and other support (Chaudhary and
Verick, 2014).
The number of females in the total population is more than 48 percent, according to World Bank
data (2016), but statistics indicate that female participation has remained at between 44 and 48 percent
annually over the past three decades. Research shows that fertility, employment, economic growth, and
age are the common variable that has a major impact on women's labor force participation. Results from
Qinfen, 2017, indicate that the long-term impact of GDP, the rate of education and fertility on female
labor force participants tend to be statistically irrelevant and assume that, in the long run, an increase in
female labor force participants is associated with an increase in GDP and education levels and a fall in
fertility rates.
Additionally, economic incentives through women's participation in the labor force contribute to the
improvement of employment and women's employment policies. An overall rise in the level of female
education appears to be one of the major contributing factors in the labor force for women. Education is
essential to enhance women's living standards and enable them to take a more active part in the
decision-making process within the family, the community, the place of paid work, and the political
world (Abu Bakar and Abdullah, 2007).
Studies at Chilean manufacturing firms from 2001 to 2007, found that higher gender equivalence
and a higher percentage of female LF among highly qualified medium- and small-scale employees will
dramatically improve productivity (Wu and Cheng, 2016). Higher female labor-force participation
among high-skilled workers and those small companies with less than 50 employees substantially
increase a company's productivity. Even greater gender balance among the low-skilled workforce
improves the productivity of more than 50 employees for larger businesses. Consequently, a more
equalized distributed labor force between female and male workers leads to an increase in productivity
(Wu and Cheng, 2016).
However, LGBT participation in the workforce eventually causes labor discrimination, such as
where the company fires a person who seems to have some issue in the appearances of their sex.
Moreover, LGBT usually faces negative responses from the management, such as they always treated
with bad responses such as poor services, disrespect words, and many others. Those treatments cause
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bad anxiety among LGBT workers to perform well in their job and influence their chances to grow well
in the career aspects. Management tends to treat them differently with low wages, no benefits offered,
and many others. This shows that there is a lower LGBT labor force participation in the workforce
market.
D. Discrimination in dressing code

Even in the workplace, there has been gender discrimination in terms of dressing code of their uniforms,
especially in the hotel sector. As an example, in the hotel workplace, there is a rule that the women
workers do not have any permission to wear a hijab while working, but they are restricted from wearing
short skirts and sleeveless blouse, which is against Muslim's women. Make this habit or practice
indirectly show strict discrimination toward Muslim women? In Malaysia, twenty percent of hotels,
especially the five-star rating, would have the women who worked in the desk reception wear sexy
dressing code to attract the visitors to put in their hotel (Rahman et al., 2019). This is a clear cut of
discrimination as there is no equal opportunity and chances given to the women and men. In contrast,
women are considered as weak human beings and can be exploited easily with such regulations.
However, in future discrimination in dressing code, high star rate hotel management should follow as
low rate hotel management's habits, such as allowing the Muslim women to wear proper attire.
E. Lack of technical and managerial skills

History of the global higher education landscape recorded the domination of men. On the contrary,
since the 1990s, trends on enrolment between gender were reversed, with women outnumbering men in
nearly all the countries of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD,
2011). The Malaysia Gender Gap Index (MGGI) identified indicators particularly for women's
empowerment in health, education, and economic activity. Education offer opportunities for women and
makes better choices. Department of Statistics Malaysia reported that female literacy in Malaysia
increased sharply from 64.7 percent in 1980 to 88.1 percent in 2004 and 96.3 percent in 2017. Although
most women are now highly educated, still be considered as people who lack in technical and
managerial skills. Women are considered not fit to manufacturing, industrial field, and in most
employers' perceptive, women are only eligible to do small and light work (Fui and Lim, 2019). We can
see a huge gap of gender discrimination in Information Technology (IT) department where most of the
staffs under this department is male, rarely female where female were considered as they lack in the
technical skills to solve any programming and computer bugs (Perumal and Dastane, 2017).
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Table 3. Comparison between Malaysia with Selected Countries (ASEAN and Developed
Countries) for selected gender indicators, 2016
Indicator Malaysia Singapore Thailand Philippines USA UK Australia Japan
Total 32.0 5.6 68.0 100.7 321.8 64.7 24.0 126.6
population
(million)
Female 54.3 66.0 70.0 52.0 66.0 71.0 71.0 66.0
LFPR (%)
Female 96.3 95.0 93.0 97.0 99.0 99.0 99.0 99.0
Literacy
Rate (%)
Sources: (Ministry of Women, 2007)
Educational choices between gender relate to individual motivation and interest. Gender imbalances,
partly due to the actions and desire of women not to become active in technical sectors, even though
they have graduated from tertiary education that hinders women's employment, lowers potential
earnings and deprives the economy of a source of talent and innovation (OECD, 2011).
5. Discussion
Gender equality in the workplace is widely studied throughout the world, but yet there are so many
more comprehensive efforts needed to narrow the gap. The systematic review analyzed from various
studies from different regions of the world and, most importantly, addressing the issue in Malaysia's
current context. Moreover, gender equality is recognized in Islam, the national religion and in the
Constitution of Malaysia, it is no doubt that Malaysia has implemented various measures to ensure
equal rights and value in workplaces for both genders to generate positive results for the economy and
social wellbeing of the country.
From this study, five major factors have been identified in contributing to gender equality issues
among the working-class women in the country. These factors include the cost of childcare and
household poverty, government policies and support systems, labor force participation, discrimination
in dressing code, and lack of technical and managerial skills. From analyzing each factor as carefully
documented in this study, the aim of our systematic analysis has reasoned out why an organization
embarks on ensuring gender equality to address the emerging issues faced by women at the workplace.
The increased responsibilities they have to endure and the increasing cost of childcare has urged the
government and dedicated authorities to draft policies and execute them for the benefit of working
women. Malaysia's government policies such as National Women's Policy, National Women's Action
Plan 2009 and Gender Equality Bill 2017 have brought far-reaching reforms through its various support
structures implemented by the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development, while also
reacting to the second objective of our study to address specific approaches to promoting workplace
gender equality.
Amongst efforts to promote workplaces' gender equality, the management of each organization
should take action, in particular, when choosing work at the office. The management should never
consider women as weak labor while treating them with equal benefits and rights. Women should be
75
appreciated for their hard work by providing them with higher salaries, good medical benefits, better
career progress rather than keeping the male staff in a higher position without any qualifications. If
employers have an impression that women lack in technical and managerial skills, especially in
Information Systems, then women should be given an opportunity for them to shine in the workplace. If
they are still lacking, there is no wrong for the employers to get complete training regarding the skills.
They can stop women's participation just after the training if they still never show any improvement
after the training provided by the employer. Nevertheless, management should never forget to consider
LGBT gender in the organization by treating them equally in work distribution and never disgrace them
in any form due to their differences in their appearances. No harsh words should not be used against
LGBT workers as it is one of the forms of gender equality practice. It would be more helpful if in the
future, the organization should never practice any discrimination in the dressing code was girls or
females need to wear attires that attract attention. In contrast, males just need to wear those normal
attires. If this habit widely used in the various workplace, obviously females will lose their respect in
the workplace, and there would be a higher chance for gender inequality to occur.
Thus, as a conclusion of this research, gender equality habits still need to be improved and should be
practiced systematically by most of the organizations in Malaysia. Malaysia's government should take
initiatives to develop women's participation in any decision-making practices either in the workplace or
even in other fields such as politics sector. The government should urge the female community and
motivate them to grow into a better person with a higher education level and their careers' status. In a
nutshell, women's voices must be heard by everyone and this will enable women to achieve success in
social, political and economic development.
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International Journal of Innovation and Business Strategy (IJIBS)/ Vol. 14, No.

Gender Equality at the Workplace: Malaysia's Stance

Received 19 March 2020

Japan 18 121 0.652

Table 2. Labor force participation rates by gender, 2010 – 2019

Figure 1: Labor force participation rates by gender, 1990-2019

Source: Department of Statistics Malaysia Official Portal

• How organization able to embarks on ensuring gender equality;

A. Literature search strategy

B. Inclusion and exclusion criteria

Author(s) Title Country Study Objective(s) Type of Study Key Findings

To devise guidelines intended to

Author(s) Title Country Study Objective(s) Type of Study Key Findings

Author(s) Title Country Study Objective(s) Type of Study Key Findings

Author(s) Title Country Study Objective(s) Type of Study Key Findings

Author(s) Title Country Study Objective(s) Type of Study Key Findings

Author(s) Title Country Study Objective(s) Type of Study Key Findings

Author(s) Title Country Study Objective(s) Type of Study Key Findings

Author(s) Title Country Study Objective(s) Type of Study Key Findings

Author(s) Title Country Study Objective(s) Type of Study Key Findings

A. Prisma flow diagram

Records identified through Additional records identified

database searching through other sources

Records after duplicates removed (n=53)

Articles screened based on title Articles excluded based on title

Full-text articles were assessed Full-text articles excluded

Opinion pieces: (n=1)

Poor quality: (n=3)

Total number of studies included in

Source: (Moher et al., 2009)

Source: The Edge Malaysia Weekly

B. Government policies and support system

C. Labor force participation

D. Discrimination in dressing code

E. Lack of technical and managerial skills

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