75% uni students women in Malaysia

A girl in Malaysian school is more likely to go to university than her male classmates as the country is reaping results of investing in education ‘without gender discrimination’, Prime Minister Najib Razak has said.

Opening the third global conference of Women Deliver on Tuesday, Razak in a startling revelation said three out of four students enrolled in tertiary education in the Muslim country were women.

“Although we have same number of girls and boys enrolled in primary school, higher education rates are greater for women,” he said.

Malaysia is the first Asian country hosting this global conference, largest in the decade, previously held in London and Washington.

He termed it ‘a real achievement’, but said ‘enrolment is only one part of the story’.

“For Malaysia, as for many countries, the challenge is to ensure that success in the classroom carries over into life outside it, that the world of opportunity for girls and women does not narrow upon graduation, but opens up,” the newly elected Prime Minister said.

He said women were not equally representing the country’s labour force. The current 47 percent participation in the labour ‘must be improved if we want to continue to see robust and sustainable growth’.

The Prime Minister highlighted some the initiatives they had taken to encourage more women in the labour force that include women directors training programme.

The conference, where more than 3,000 delegates from over 150 countries are attending, is focusing on investing on girls and women health and rights to yield better future outcomes, apart from other issues.

Razak said investing in girls and women’s education, health, safety, rights and financial independence ‘pays’.

“We see it in our own nation,” he said listing some Malaysian women including its central bank governor Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz and a radio deejay and organ donation advocate Chew Hoong Ling.

He said investing in education had empowered women to occupy top positions.

A World Bank release earlier in the day also stressed the need for investing in women particularly during their adolescence.

Such investments, the report said, could increase labour productivity bringing financial benefit to households and future generations as well.

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) also laid similar stress.

Its Executive Director Babatunde Osotimehin in a panel discussion said in the world of seven billion population, two billion were young people less than 30 years of age.

Of them, he said, more than 600 million are adolescent girls aged between 10 and 18 years.

“It represents opportunities and special challenge,” he said and added that steps should be taken for their education so that ‘these girls can make a difference in the world’.