Discrimination Against Women In Malaysia

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Under the SUHAKAM’s report on The Status of Women Rights in Malaysia 2010, it recommends the need for a separate piece legislation on sexual harassment, not just a mere amendment to the Employment Act of 1955. It further states than an effective legislation is required in order to set the standards as to what is deemed acceptable and unacceptable in a work environment, it suggested to use the current Code of Practice as guidelines for a new law to be put in place.

Malaysia as a signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), is obliged to take all appropriate measures, including legislation, to eliminate any sort of discrimination involving sexual harassment.
Article 8 …show more content…

A woman who is pregnant can currently be dismissed from work if she is pregnant without any serious repercussion to her employers. The Workplace Discrimination Survey done by Women’s Aid Organisation (WAO) revealed that 40 percent of the 222 women have experienced job discrimination due to their pregnancy. The top five ways employers discriminated pregnant women were making their positions redundant, denying them promotions, placing them on prolonged probation, demoting them, and terminating their jobs.

“Our Federal Constitution and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) prohibit gender discrimination. When employers penalise women for having children, employers are violating women’s human rights. Specifically, their right to have a family if they choose, their right to work, and their right to be appropriately appraised and remunerated.” ( Ms Sumitra Visvanathan, Executive Director of …show more content…

It’s high time we implement such laws. Countries such as the United States adopt the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA) to protect women’s rights in the workplace. This act ensures that employers treat pregnant women in the same manner as other employees with similar abilities or inabilities. PDA also forbids employers from discriminating pregnant women in terms of pay, job assignments, promotions, layoffs, trainings, and so on. Malaysia needs to work towards this direction. Awareness as a start and eventually a statute,” ( Ms Sumitra Visvanathan, Executive Director of

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