PUTRAJAYA, Feb 19 — The 2022 National Women’s Day celebration will be held from March 6 to 8 at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (KLCC), and is scheduled to be officiated by Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob.
The Women, Family and Community Development Ministry (KPWKM) said that various exhibitions and business opportunities have been lined up during the celebration, to give women access to generate income.
It will also serve as a one-stop centre that brings together government agencies, the corporate sector, and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to offer direct services to the public, the ministry said in a statement.
It said, themed ‘Saksama Bersama’, the 2022 Women’s Day celebration is aimed at increasing awareness and understanding of all levels of society on the importance of achieving equality, to ensure that women’s potential can be enabled and optimised for the country’s sustainable future.
“It is also in line with the International Women’s Day, themed ‘Gender Equality Today for A Sustainable Tomorrow’, which is also in line with the concept of Shared Prosperity Vision 2030 which focuses on sustainable development with economic distribution,” it said.
The ministry also called on the public to visit KLCC to participate in the celebration, while adhering to the standard operating procedures set.
It said that the Women’s Day celebration, an annual event in Malaysia, is to show appreciation and recognition towards women’s significant contributions and services in the country’s development.
The ministry added that the government recognised the significant role played by women in various sectors of national development, and the large contribution of this group, which represented 48.62 per cent of Malaysia’s population, is indisputable, as women are the backbone of the nation.
It said based on the Malaysian Gender Gap Index (MGGI) 2020 from the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM), women’s achievement was very commendable in the educational achievement sub-index, with a score of 1.059, and the health and life sub-index, which recorded a score of 0.956.
For the economic opportunities and participation sub-index, the ministry said that Malaysia scored 0.738, while for the Labour Force Participation Rate (KPTB) sub-index, the country’s score was still low at 55.3 per cent in 2020, compared with other Southeast Asian countries such as Singapore at 69.7 per cent and Thailand at 66.8 per cent.
It added that women’s presence in politics recorded the lowest score of 0.100, which showed that there was still a large gap in women’s involvement in politics.
— Bernama
