Malaysia has already taken steps to support a more equitable and inclusive world of work for women, such as drafting the Gender Equality Bill and the very recent amendments to the Employment Act, which protects pregnant women from being unfairly dismissed from their jobs simply for being pregnant and also have their maternity leave days extended.
While this is a commendable step in the right direction, I still feel there is room yet for improvement — because these measures are reactive to issues that already exist in the workplace, rather than proactively nipping them in the bud. Having been deeply involved in recruiting solutions throughout my time in HR, I believe that the greatest push for gender equality at work starts from the very beginning of the funnel: even before the hiring stage.
It is imperative that organisations strive to make purely merit-based hiring decisions. To do this, every stage of the process — from selection criteria all the way down to the job descriptions — must be gender-neutral and skill-focused. Even a small sentence encouraging women and underserved communities to apply (which is very popular on platforms like LinkedIn at the moment!) can make a difference in diversifying the company’s pool of applicants.
The team of recruitment specialists and interviewers must also represent the diversity they hope to see in the workplace. When fairness and inclusion are then constantly at the heart of their decisions, this can make a positive difference even when filling top executive positions! In fact, this was the very basis behind CXL’s Executive Search platform, which is driving gender inclusivity and diversity in HR recruitment solutions.
Beyond representation in the recruitment stage, it is also vital that women are actively connected to female mentors and leaders from the onboarding process onwards. Opportunities for women in senior-level positions to take ownership of empowering other women in the workplace is a strong catalyst not just for their personal growth, but also for broader cyclical change. Moreover, the upskilling programmes and resources made available for employees should also take into account the challenges faced by women at work, enabling them to better navigate the very nuanced world of business and leadership.
Multinational corporations may find it easier to allocate resources to drive these changes (albeit with less flexibility), whereas SMEs and startups are more likely to implement more far-reaching but smaller-scale measures. Although the scale of implementation may be different depending on the size and nature of the business, what ultimately matters is that affirmative action is taken now.
It is no longer an if, but a must, in the transformation of employment for the better: closing the gap between companies and best-fit talents — plus the gap of gender inequality towards a more inclusive world of work.
