PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia Gender Gap Index (MGGI) scored 0.707 or 70.7% in 2021 compared to 0.714 or 71.4% 2020, with women’s achievement surpassing men in the educational attainment sub-index with a score of 1.060, said the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) in conjunction with World Population Day.
MGGI identifies the gap between women and men across four sub-indices encompassing economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival and political empowerment.
A score with a value of 1.0 or 100% indicates the equality of women and men has been achieved, reported Bernama.
DOSM said girls are consistently enrolling at higher rates than boys in both primary and secondary school.
“In 2022, the gross enrolment rate for females in primary and secondary levels were 98.4% and 94.5% respectively. At the tertiary level, women at 47.5% outnumbered men at 33.8%. This achievement supports the country’s commitment to providing access to high-quality education,” it said.
On economic participation and opportunity with a score of 0.709, DOSM said women’s labour force participation rate in Malaysia has risen significantly from 44.5% in 1982 to 55.5% in 2021.
According to World Bank Indicator, the world’s labour force participation rate of women stood at 52.5% in 2021.
On political empowerment, DOSM said it recorded 10% or a score of 0.100 which shows that there was potential for increased representation and empowerment of women in the political sphere.
