Malaysia slumps 12 places to 114th position in WEF gender gap report

 

The Global Gender Gap Index noted that women occupy roughly half of entry-level positions in the workplace but this figure drops to little more than one-in-five at the senior management level. (Envato Elements pic)

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia slipped 12 places to the 114th position in the World Economic Forum’s Gender Gap Index, according to the 2024 report released recently.

The Global Gender Gap Index of 146 countries annually benchmarks the current state and evolution of gender parity across four key dimensions — economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival, and political empowerment.

Malaysia scored highly for educational attainment, ranked joint first with 27 other countries.

However, Malaysia did not fare so well in other dimensions. It came 80th for health and survival, and 102nd for economic participation and opportunity.

It was ranked 134th for political empowerment, while the report noted that the gender gap had widened regionally since last year.

By comparison, Indonesia also slipped 13 places to 100 out of 146 countries. The Philippines also slid nine places to 25th place. Thailand bucked this trend, jumping nine places to the 65th position.

The index also compared 16 countries across East Asia and the Pacific Rim. New Zealand was at the head of the list but Malaysia only ranked 14th, ahead of Japan and Fiji.

Globally, the report said there were hints of short-term optimism about women doing better, while predictions of long-term growth rates are at their lowest in 30 years.

“Economic prospects for women are threatened by the continued downturns and prolonged crises.”

The report said while women occupy nearly half of entry-level positions, only 21% of board seats are filled by them.

The index also highlighted global gaps in caregiving, and representation in fields such as science, technology, engineering and math as well as artificial intelligence but said these gaps were slowly closing.

“Based on current data, it will take 134 years to reach full parity – roughly five generations beyond the 2030 Sustainable Development Goal target,” the report noted. - FMT