Govt Committed To Nurturing More Female Leaders Says Nancy

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Nancy Shukri wants young leaders, especially women, to take over from present-day leaders so they can help motivate and inspire the next generation.
PETALING JAYA: Women, family and community development minister Nancy Shukri has reaffirmed her commitment to fostering and empowering new female leaders across economic, social and political sectors.
In an exclusive interview with FMT, she said the ministry has actively worked to provide a platform for aspiring female entrepreneurs and future leaders through initiatives such as the Women’s Leadership Apprenticeship Programme (Perantis).
The programme aims at providing mentorship, training, and financial support to selected participants, empowering them to become leaders at the decision-making level.
Nancy said the government successfully allocated a total of RM1.2 million to 1,247 participants who were mentored by a panel of 25 industry experts last year.
She noted a lack of political interest among the participants, but remained hopeful that more would express interest in joining the field.
“There were only two people that applied for a political leadership fund, but I need to see more of them who can take over from people like us,” she said.
“I want to see young leaders, especially women, in the political sphere, so that they can help to motivate and inspire the next generation. You cannot be seeing the same leaders all the time. We want to see new people,” she said.
The ministry said the programme has been allocated RM5 million this year to support 100 women leaders who will mentor more than 5,000 participants. Applications for the programme will end on March 26.
In February 2024, Nancy had said the ministry hoped to see 30% of the decision-making roles in the private sector filled by women. While 42% of women take part in decision-making roles in the public services, the private sector “hasn’t reached this level yet”.
In 2023, she told the Dewan Rakyat a Securities Commission study found that women comprised 29.7% of board of directors’ positions, compared to 14% in 2016.
Tax incentives to hire women
Apart from Perantis, Nancy said her ministry collaborates with the ministries of finance and human resources to provide incentives such as tax exemptions for companies who hire more female professionals.
“We need more female professionals in the country who can not only speak for the country but for women themselves,” she said.
Last year, the government proposed an additional income tax exemption of 50% for 12 months to employers who hire women returning to the workforce.
In addition, TalentCorp’s Career Comeback Tax Exemption provides individual income tax exemption of up to 12 months to female professionals who have had a minimum of three years of full-time work experience before taking a career break. - FMT

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