PETALING JAYA: The human resources ministry, through its agency Talent Corporation Malaysia Bhd (TalentCorp), has launched a new initiative called Wanita MyWIRA, which aims to close the gender gap in the workforce.
Wanita MyWIRA will serve as a platform for empowering women, consolidating all women empowerment programmes under TalentCorp’s oversight.
Human resources minister Steven Sim said TalentCorp had been mandated as the agency to empower the country’s workforce, including enhancing initiatives that promote the value of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). This will help Malaysia achieve its target for female participation in the labour force.
“Given that we lack information and data on women in the workforce who have stopped working, and those who have returned, it is critical that we obtain accurate and detailed data to assist them.
“Thus, TalentCorp will be responsible through the Wanita MyWIRA initiative, which aims to digitalise the Career Comeback Programme. This initiative will facilitate tax incentives and improve data (collection) to advance women’s positions and strengthen cross-agency cooperation under the ministry,” he said when launching the initiative here today.
When launching his vision of a new Madani economy last July, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim set a goal of women forming up to 60% of the workforce as one of seven medium-term targets to be achieved within the next 10 years.
The rate of women’s participation in the workforce remains modest, at 56.3% in the fourth quarter of 2023.
Meanwhile, TalentCorp Group CEO Thomas Mathew said the agency would continue to promote women and latent talent who could help the government achieve its goals under the Madani economic framework.
“Under the Wanita MyWIRA initiative, we will leverage the MyNext platform for assessment and profiling tools to create a centralised database for the female workforce as well as other initiatives, such as the critical occupations list and strengthen industry-academia collaboration to support women initiatives as mandated by the ministry,” he said.
Mathew added that TalentCorp also offers advocacy programmes to help employers implement DEI ideals and engage working women as well as parents, such as the Women Industry Network, flexible work arrangements (FWA), and support for work-life balance approaches.
“We believe that by digitising data, specifically for women, we can provide reliable information that will support initiatives to help them.
“We will also collaborate with all cross-ministerial agencies, the private sector, and academia because no human can stand alone; thus, we must work together to achieve this aim,” he added.
The Wanita MyWIRA initiative was launched in conjunction with TalentCorp’s celebration of the International Women’s Day, from March 2 to March 9. Activities include a 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.
Over 1,000 participants, representing women from diverse backgrounds, are expected to participate in the convention. Notable companies such as Hiredly, Kiddocare, ManagedCare, British Petroleum, DHL, Exxon Mobil, and others are partnering with TalentCorp to ensure the success of this event. - FMT
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