NATIONAL WOMENS POLICY

CONTENTS
1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) 7) 8) INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND AIM OBJECTIVES STRATEGIES LATEST DEVELOPMENTS ACHIEVEMENTS CONCLUSION REFERENCES

INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

Started in 1975 (18 yrs after independence) UN made efforts to intergrate women in the development of nations

Malaysian Government showed its support by - Advisory Council on Women in Development (NACIWID)
In the 3rd Malaysia Plan (3MP) Funds were allocated to women through ministry dealing with social welfare In December 1989. National Policy on Women was formulated as a guide for womens participation in the development process. The Policy helps enhance womens quality of life by overcoming challenges through poverty eradication and education. Its contents were incorporated in the 6MP

AIM

The Aim of the National Womens Policy is to ensure the development and empowerment of Women by highliting the importance of them achieving their full potential in the planning and development of the country to achieve gender equality.

OBJECTIVES

(i) to ensure equitable sharing in the acquisition of resources and information as well as access to opportunities and benefits of development, for both men and women; (ii) to integrate women in all sectors of national development in line with their abilities and needs in order to improve the quality of life, eradicate poverty, abolish ignorance, and illiteracy, and ensure a peaceful and prosperous nation

STRATEGIES
(a) Raising consciousness and understanding of all those concerned, and sensitizing them with issues and status of women; (b) Channelling women's issues through a central agency to various institutions and government bureaucracy in the form of administrative directives, programmes aimed at attitude modification and the building of commitment among those entrusted with the task of programme implementation; (c) Planning for the distribution of resource to the various sectors that are implementing programmes pertaining to women's issues; and (d) Securing the cooperation among the various governmental sectors, and between governmental and non - governmental agencies in the process of centralizing and coordinating all efforts aimed at enhancing the participation of women in development.

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS
Sixth Malaysia Plan (1991-95) implimented this policy 1995 Following 4th World Conference on Women, organised by UN in Beijing, efforts to establish a cabinet level body to aid the Government in issues pertaining Women development was made By 2004, Ministry of Women, Family and Community led by Y.B. Dato' Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil Kementerian Pembangunan Wanita, Keluarga dan Masyarakat ( KPWKM)

ACHIEVEMENTS
a) Government approve 30% of women participation in decision making positions in the government b) . Increased the sentence (30 years) for rape cases, and death sentence to rape causing death -Article 8(2) of the Federal Constitution was amended on 1 August 2001 to disallow discrimination on the basis of gender apart from religion, race, descent and place of birth. c) Increased tax exemption for the disabled -Setting up Community Taska Schools for the young and infant -Increased allocations for community service centres for the younger, disabled and aged citizens - Increased paternity leave for civil servants

CONCLUSION

Women is an important potential resource, that is not yet fully recognized, hence the purpose of this Policy is to provide some guidelines and directions in planning and implementing of the development programmes of the nation, so as not to overlook or neglect the interests and participation of women, both as targets of development as well as agents in the development process.

THANK YOU