The Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) released the Statistics on Women Empowerment in Selected Domains, Malaysia, 2023, the sixth series since 2017 today (Dec 13).
This report presents statistics related to gender in Malaysia for the years 2020 to 2022 focusing on the core set of gender indicators covering eleven domains. The statistics were prepared based on latest available data from DOSM and various agencies.
This report also highlights Malaysia Gender Gap Index (MGGI) which identifies the gap between women and men across four sub-indices encompassing Economic participation and opportunity, Educational attainment, Health and survival and Political empowerment. A score with a value of 1.0 (100%) indicates the equality of women and men has been achieved.
Chief Statistician Malaysia, Dato’ Sri Dr. Mohd Uzir Mahidin (pic), said “Malaysia Gender Gap Index (MGGI) scored 0.694, or 69.4 per cent in 2022, increased 0.2 percentage points as compared to 0.692 (69.2%) in 2021. Achievement of women has surpassed men in the Educational attainment sub-index with a score of 1.067. Enrolment of girls are consistently higher than boys in both primary and secondary school. In 2022, the gross enrolment rates for female in primary and secondary levels were 98.8 per cent and 94.9 per cent, respectively. At the tertiary level, women recorded 49.5 per cent which outnumbered men (33.2%). This achievement reflects the country’s commitment to provide access to high-quality education.”
Health and survival sub-index recorded a score of 0.961 in 2022. The average life expectancy for women at birth in Malaysia stands at approximately 76.4 years or about 10 years longer than five decades ago, at 65.6 years (1970). Economic participation and opportunity sub-index recorded a score of 0.644. Labour force participation rate (LFPR) for women was still low at 55.8 per cent in 2022 as compared to other South-East Asia (ASEAN) countries such as Viet Nam (75.2%) and Singapore (73.2%)”.
Political empowerment sub-index recorded the lowest score which is 10.2 per cent (score 0.102), indicating the potential for increased representation and empowerment of women in the political sphere. Despite the significance of Malaysian women’s participation in the economy and education, there is an inspiring opportunity for further progress in leadership positions in the country’s political system, as only 17.9 per cent of women held ministerial positions in 2022.
Dr. Mohd Uzir Mahidin added, “Based on the MGGI 2022 score (0.694), we were ranked 93rd from 146 countries in the world. Simultaneously, within East Asia and the Pacific nations, Malaysia stood at the eleventh position in 2022, ahead of Timor-Leste (0.693), Brunei Darussalam (0.693), Republic of Korea (0.680), China (0.678), Vanuatu (0.678), Fiji (0.650), Myanmar (0.650) and Japan (0.647).”
“It is estimated that 15.7 million of Malaysia’s population are female out of a total of 32.7 million in 2022. In terms of live births, baby girls recorded 204,779 births out of a total of 423,124 live births in 2022. Mean monthly salaries and wages for female employees continued to increase to RM3,140 in 2022 (2021: RM2,968).”
This publication also presents MGGI scores by state for 2022. According to him, “The top three states that recorded the high MGGI score in 2022 were W.P. Putrajaya, W.P. Kuala Lumpur and W.P. Labuan. W.P. Putrajaya at 0.792 in 2022, followed by W.P. Kuala Lumpur (0.767) and W.P. Labuan recorded a score of 0.736. Eight states recorded scores below the national level, namely Pulau Pinang (0.693), Kedah (0.693), Sarawak (0.681), Pahang (0.679), Perlis (0.678), Negeri Sembilan (0.674), Johor (0.670) and Terengganu (0.663).”
Recognising the significant role of women, Malaysia is dedicated to achieve gender equality and promoting the rights of women and girls. The government’s continuous efforts and commitments towards achieving gender equality are in line with the Sustainable Development Goals and Twelfth Malaysia Plan (12MP).
