By Ida Nadirah Ibrahim
SHAH ALAM, April 27 — Women in Selangor are financially hit by the movement control order (MCO) and the Covid-19 outbreak as many have lost their source of income during the order period.
In a recent survey on the socio-economic impact of the (MCO) due to the Covid-19 pandemic on women’s livelihoods, the Institut Wanita Berdaya Selangor, or Selangor Women’s Empowerment Institute (IWB), concluded that targetted cash aid has to be channelled directly to the women living in Selangor to help them survive.
This is because the study on 442 women in Selangor found that 25 per cent had lost their jobs for several reasons including termination of employment contracts, business closure or being placed on unpaid leave. Another 43 per cent were found to have lost their source of income.
Single mothers, in particular, emerged as the most vulnerable group, with one out of four living below the poverty line index and nearly half reporting lost of income due to the MCO.
“Although to a lesser extent, women with a monthly household income in the M40 category are also affected, as 7 per cent of them are either on unpaid leave or have closed their business, and 12 per cent reported having lost household income due to the MCO.
“Those who have dependents, 37 per cent said they do not have the support to look after their dependents when they are working,” the think tank said in the executive summary of the study, which was released on April 21.
The online survey was conducted within four days from March 24 and was distributed across age groups, with a larger representation seen among ethnic Bumiputera groups, households within the B40 category (monthly household income below RM 6,275) and employed divorced women.
With regards to access to financial services, aside from access to credit card, personal loans, and asset-backed lending, three out of five women were found to have no access to any of financial services.
The survey also found 14 women respondents said either they or their head of household had previously borrowed money from loan sharks
“Although these women make up just 5 per cent of the sample, the findings are concerning since such financial arrangements are risky and threaten women’s financial security in the long term.
“Women who felt more financially prepared were those who either had longer-lasting savings, access to a credit card or access to any form of financial service,” IWB noted.
Recommendations
IWB had recommended that the efforts across all state departments should be coordinated to collect and ensure the availability of gender-disaggregated data for crisis response.
The think tank said this is to understand the gendered differences in exposure and treatment and to design temporary increases in Bantuan Sara Hidup (BSH) benefits for large B40 households and differential preventive measures.
“There should be greater cooperation with existing networks of women-led NGOs and civil society organisations that have been actively working with on-the-ground communities and have in-depth knowledge of women’s specific needs.
“Mitigation strategies should be developed that specifically target the economic impact of the outbreak on women, such as expanding opportunities for women to leverage digital business platforms, providing incentives for B40 women to have stable Wi-Fi connections, and to develop recovery solutions to support women-owned small and medium businesses that may have been negatively impacted by the outbreak,” IWB said.
IWB had also suggested that financial services and financial literacy for women should be enhanced and there should be dependent’s care support especially for frontliners and those working in essential services.
