In the MADANI Economy framework, the Malaysian government increased the importance of women’s participation in the workforce by 60% to enhance the talent strategy that would fulfil the needs of the MADANI economy.
However, the growth rate of women’s participation in the workforce remains modest, at 56.3% in the fourth quarter of 2023.
As a result, the Ministry of Human Resources (KESUMA), through its agency Talent Corporation Malaysia (TalentCorp), launched a new initiative called Wanita MyWIRA, which aims to close the workforce gap.
As an agency entrusted with mobilising talent strategies, Wanita MyWIRA will serve as a platform for activities that empower women while structuring all women empowerment programmes under TalentCorp’s supervision.
Steven Sim Chee Keong, in his speech during the initiative’s launch, stated that TalentCorp has been mandated as an agency of KESUMA to empower the country’s workforce, including enhancing initiatives that promote the value of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), which will help achieve the Female Labour Force Participation Rate (FLFPR) goal.
“Given that we lack information and data on the women in the workforce who have stopped working, and vice versa, it is critical that we have accurate and detailed data to assist them,” he stated.
Thus, TalentCorp will be responsible through the Wanita MyWIRA initiative, which aims to digitalise the Career Comeback Programme that will facilitate tax incentives and build better data to advance women’s position and strengthen the cross-agency cooperation under KESUMA,” he remarked.
The Wanita MyWIRA Initiative aligns with the MADANI economic framework’s goals of achieving gender equality.
It is the foundation of initiatives that empower women, such as the Tax Incentive through the Career Comeback Programme, which has been extended until 2027.
In addition, TalentCorp also offers advocacy programmes to help employers implement DEI ideals and engage working women and parents, such as the Women Industry Network, Flexible Work Arrangements (FWA), and support for work-life balance approaches.
Thomas Mathew, TalentCorp Group’s Chief Executive Officer, stated that the agency will continue to promote women and latent talent who can help the MADANI Economy achieve its goals.
“Under the Wanita MyWIRA Initiative, we will leverage the MyNext platform for assessment and profiling tools to create a centralised database for the Women Workforce as well as other initiatives such as the Critical Occupations List (MyCOL) and strengthen Industry-Academia Collaboration (IAC) to support women initiatives as mandated by the Minister,” he said.
“We believe that by digitising data specifically for women, we can provide reliable information that will support initiatives to help women.”
“We will also collaborate with all cross-ministerial agencies, the private sector, and academia because no human individual can stand alone; thus, we must work together to achieve this aim,” he added.
The Wanita MyWIRA initiative was launched in conjunction with the celebration of TalentCorp’s International Women’s Day, which takes place from March 2 – 9, 2024.
Various activities are provided to inject the spirit of participation of skilled women, including the Women’s Career Convention on March 9, a career carnival with companies led by women and offering FWA.
The convention also offers Resume writing services, job interview workshops, as well as sharing sessions on the value of DEI.
TalentCorp is also targeting the participation of more than one thousand participants among women from various backgrounds.
Among the companies that will be joining in making the TalentCorp Women’s Career Convention a success include Hiredly, Kiddocare, ManagedCare, British Petroleum, DHL, Exxon Mobil, etc.
