UN rep laments income gap between sexes

United Nations resident representative Niloy Banerjee says mindsets need to be changed about women in the workplace. (Reuters pic)

KUALA LUMPUR: A United Nations (UN) representative has urged the government to take the lead in closing the income gap between men and women in the country.

UN resident representative Niloy Banerjee told FMT there should not be a noticeable gap since women were generally as educated and as healthy as men, if not more so.

He noted that the current per capita income was RM33,000 for men and RM18,000 to RM20,000 for women.

“That’s a pretty big gap,” he told FMT.

He attributed this to a cultural assumption that women should sacrifice their jobs if their children or parents needed to be taken care of.

He alleged that it was difficult in Malaysia for one who had left the work force temporarily to return to it at a level commensurate with one’s experience or even at a previous salary level.

He suggested that the government change this state of affairs by introducing policies and incentives that allow women to work from home, at least on some days.

Women raising young children could be allowed to telecommute, he said.

“Make it easy for them, recognising that there’s going to be some amount of care-giving responsibilities that will fall to women,” he added.

He called for research to find out how much of any job required women employees to be on location.

He noted that the government in the early 2000s commissioned the design of a telecommuting policy that would have been ahead of its time, but lamented that it did not take off.

He also said public awareness of the benefits of telecommuting was as important as policy initiatives.

“We need to change mindsets so that working from home is seen to be okay. When someone says she’s working from home, it doesn’t mean she’s partying.”

Banerjee noted that people currently involved in telecommuting functions and part-time gig work were not covered by social protection systems and said this called for a redesign of policies.

“When left to its own, the market will naturally create bigger and bigger divides,” he said. “In the digital economy, that’s going to be very very sharp.” - FMT