On November 27, 2012, being inspired by Licia Ronzulli, an Italian Member of European Parliament, I decided to bring my 4-month old baby Jinger to Parliament, as a symbolic gesture to reclaim more rights for women in reconciling work and family life.
16 months have passed, and I am now a mother of 2. It is sad that a childcare centre is yet to be set up in Parliament. Hence, I again decide to bring my 2-month old son Eger (颜羿格) to Parliament.
The increase of childcare centre in public sector is slow. According to the written reply from the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development, we had 80 childcare centres in public sector in year 2012, and the number increased to 99 in the year 2013.
| BIL. | KATEGORI PERKHIDMATAN AWAM | JUMLAH |
| 1 | Hospital | 16 |
| 2 | Institusi Pengajian Tinggi | 26 |
| 3 | SUK Negeri | 1 |
| 4 | Kementerian | 18 |
| 5 | Agensi di bawah Kementerian | 32 |
| JUMLAH BESAR | 99 |
According to the official portal of Malaysian Government (www.malaysia.gov.my), there are 1378 government bodies in Malaysia. At this pace, we will take at least 50 years to see childcare centre being set up at all government agencies.
Even though Malaysia produces more female than male graduates in recent years, the increase of women’s participation in the labour workforce is very low. It was 44.7% in 1995 and at 2012, the female labour force participation rate in Malaysia stood at 48%. This is in sharp contrast to the neighbouring South East Asian countries of Thailand, Singapore and Brunei Darussalam where the corresponding figures are 71%, 63% and 60%, respectively.
Childcare is an important factor in allowing women to reconcile professional and family obligations. This is especially important for women’s economic participation because they tend to bear most of the caregiving responsibilities. A well-established day-care system can be a vital long-term investment that supports women in employment, thereby improving the efficiency of labour market.
Furthermore, the 2010 Asia-Pacific Human Development Report (AHDR) estimates that if the female employment rates were raised to 70%, Malaysia would enjoy an increase in GDP of between 2% and 4%.
If the government is serious about their target to increase female labour force participation rate to 55% by 2015, more childcare centres need to be set up in government agencies and private sector so that women do not need to leave their jobs in the middle of their careers once they have children.
Therefore, it is imperative that the BN government pay more attention to initiatives that will boost the female labour force as well as implement programmes that will benefit the economy as a whole.