Education is one of crucial components in building a country – alongside with politics and economy. Not all women in this world have the opportunity to get a proper education in life. In Malaysia, there are continue progression when it comes to women education. Overall, in the year of 1990, the trends show an increase in the literacy levels of both males and females, which stood at 89 percent for males and 80 percent for females in 1990 (Ahmad A,1998). This shows that the gap between males and females are not to be. It is not equal but still women get the opportunity to have education in their life. Before Malaysia declared independence in 1957, schooling was not considered appropriate for women. However, this help with some changes such as introduction of free primary education, which is still continue to nowadays, and also changes in family attitudes (Ahmad A,1998). When we look at higher education, there are increasing of percentage when we look at female enrollment in the year of 1980-1993 (Ahmad A,1998). Government ministration apply multiple strategies for women’s educational advancement. As a result, their educational participation has increased enormously in the last decades. In additional, more female student actually outperform male students at every level especially in university level (Schleimer S.M., 2016).

            However, despite the improvement in opportunity, there are still lag in the equal opportunity and empowerment once they step into working world. women still have to face barriers regarding their participation in the labor market in Malaysia (Schleimer S.M., 2016). According to statistic, there are only 53% of women within the working age are employed and some tend to drop out of the labor force after childbirth (Schleimer S.M., 2016). I think this is one of the challenges as a woman. They need to balance to between their career and family. “Many female employees are mothers and wives for whom every day is an incredible juggling act to provide not only the best to their employers, but also to give the best attention, care and love to their families” (Raih M.F., 2018). I believed at some point; they need choose which one is more important.

            When it comes to education system in Malaysian, especially in higher education, there are no discrimination against women since it is based on merit. According to article entitled “Women and Education in Malaysia” written by Jacqueline Liza Fernandez, “Given the absence of educational policies that limit female enrolment in educational institutions, it appears that segregation in education is the result of gender stereotyping that prevails in society”. Women in Malaysia tend to enroll in traditionally female courses because conformity is a means of gaining social support and avoiding feelings of isolation. This decision actually reflected their working life in the future. This is because “those who opt for female-dominated courses tend to get lower paid and lower status jobs” (Fernandez J.L., n.d.). When it comes to this issue, I believed mindset is important. This is because due to stereotypes toward women, there are few limitations that the need to face. 

References:

Aminah Ahmad. (1998). Women in Malaysia. Asian Development Bank Country Briefing Paper.

Simon Moses Schleimer. (2016). Education and Gender Equality: A case study of Muslim female students in Malaysia. 3rd KANITA POSTGRADUATE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON GENDER STUDIES.

Jacqueline Liza Fernandez. (n.d). Women and Education in Malaysia. Universiti Sains Malaysia.

Raih M.F. (2018). https://www.nst.com.my/education/2018/08/403985/gender-equality-may-not-be-way-forward