संयुक्त राष्ट्र महिला 2020 एशिया-प्रशांत WEPs पुरस्कार:
क्षेत्रीय विजेताओं से मिलें
MALAYSIA
हम पहली बार संयुक्त राष्ट्र महिला 2020 एशिया-प्रशांत WEPs पुरस्कारों के विजेताओं की घोषणा करने के लिए उत्साहित हैं!
लैंगिक समानता और महिला आर्थिक सशक्तिकरण को आगे बढ़ाने के लिए खुद को प्रतिबद्ध करने वाले सभी विजेताओं को बहुत-बहुत बधाई। विभिन्न देशों, क्षेत्रों और क्षेत्रों के इन जेंडर चैंपियन को क्रमशः उनकी उत्कृष्ट नेतृत्व प्रतिबद्धता, युवा नेतृत्व, लिंग-समावेशी कार्यस्थल, लिंग-उत्तरदायी बाज़ार, समुदाय और उद्योग जुड़ाव और COVID-19 कार्रवाई के लिए स्वीकार किया जाता है।
विजेताओं
Gamuda recognizes that the engineering and construction industry faces a lack of women’s representation due to gender stereotypes, childcare, and barriers to re-enter the workforce. To create a more gender-inclusive workplace, Gamuda has introduced benefits such as on-site day care centres, extended maternity leave, childcare subsidies and flexible work-from-home arrangements under their Women@Work initiative. These benefits are extended to their male staff as well.
A Gamuda Scholarship was also created to allow staff to develop expertise in the industry. Since 1996, 165 female scholarship recipients have graduated, and many have gone on to contribute actively in the company– challenging gender stereotypes and creating more opportunities for women within the industry. These initiatives have allowed greater representation at top levels, where 43% of board members are women and there is a steady increase of 4% annually of women at senior management level.
As one of Asia’s biggest telecommunications groups, Axiata is committed to ensuring women and girls are not left behind. Axiata Digital Leader Programme (ADLP) for girls aims to promote gender equality via digital upskilling to create opportunities in digital leadership within STEM and ICT industries.
Together with experts from Amazon Web Services and Axiata Digital Lab, ADLP for girls includes critical knowledge on internet safety such as data encryption, control features and securing your network access. Through a series of webinars and bootcamps, girls are also encouraged to learn more about coding, software development and the industry as a whole.
Over 2000 girls from secondary schools and universities all over Malaysia have been impacted in 2022.
Thrive Well is a women-led social enterprise focusing on bringing mental health services to marginalized communities. They have worked with CSOs such as Women of Will and Institute Wanita Berdaya Selangor (IWB Selangor) to provide psychosocial support for women entrepreneurs and research on mental health in relation to postpartum depression in the community.
Their K.A.M.I Sembang program was launched at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic to provide mental health support for mothers and women in low-income communities. By supporting these women, their children, family and community are also impacted as some of these women are also active in their communities, serving as community leaders. The program has been attended by 160 women across 6 low-income communities.
Johary believes in equal representation, directly empowering and strengthening support of women in the workplace.
Through Johary’s active leadership in gender equality and advocacy of women’s empowerment in the workplace, women now hold more than 60% of senior management positions as of 2022; 72% of regional managers are women; and over 40% of FI’s workforce are women. Johary’s advocacy for women’s active role in the workplace has led to several advancements at Forest Interactive, including unbiased gender-neutral hiring practices, flexible work arrangements, fair career progressions, and operational safety and health measures, anti-sexual harassment policies, and grievance mechanisms that come with external resources for assistance.
A strong believer in safe workplaces, Johary has called on the support of talents to sign the petition to table the Anti-Sexual Harassment Bill in the Malaysian Parliament and supported the #ItEndsNow campaign at Forest Interactive to end harassment at the workplace.
To realise the vision of becoming Malaysia’s leading Converged Solutions company, Maxis made a commitment to ensure that Inclusion and Diversity is incorporated into their human capital strategy. By consistently tracking detailed diversity and inclusion data, they were able to build transparent reporting channels to analyze their demographics.
The system has allowed better understanding of workplace inclusion, gaps in representation and employee’s feedback. With the data, Maxis was able to identify gaps and focus on increasing gender diversity in these areas. Over the past 4 years, they have managed to successfully increase representation of women managers and women in technological roles.
Maxis remains committed to continuously improving workplace inclusion using data-driven solutions, and aims to increase women representation among people managers to 42% and among technological roles to 33% by 2025.
Maxis remains committed to continuously improving workplace inclusion using data-driven solutions, and aims to increase women representation among people managers to 42% and among technological roles to 33% by 2025.
प्रथम उपविजेता
Under Kimberly-Clark Malaysia, the Kotex She Can Initiative champions women's progress by fighting period stigma and barriers they cause by promoting access to education in schools and communities, and by helping to open doors so women gain equal opportunity.
Kotex has been conducting menstrual hygiene workshops on reproductive health in schools to educate girls on topics such as puberty and period myths, type of pads functionality and flow. Over 7 years, they have reached more than a million girls all over Malaysia. They have also conducted a comprehensive study on period poverty and stigma in Malaysia, the first of its kind for any brand in the country.
Earlier this year, Kotex entered a partnership with the Malaysian National Population and Family Development Board to launch the KIT SERI program which will include menstrual hygiene education and menstrual pads for 130,000 girls from low-income communities.
Despite achieving a gender balanced workforce in 2020, Accenture Malaysia strives to continue ensuring everyone, regardless of gender, feels empowered to achieve their best. Their efforts are anchored around 3 crucial areas: building diverse leadership at all levels, providing support to male and female employees to define their career progression, and cultivating connectedness.
Among their initiatives to upskill and provide support for women’s career development are monthly Lean In circles, Women Pay-It-Forward mentorship program, and a referral program which encourages employees to recommend women talents to work at Accenture. For new parents, Accenture also provides both maternity and paternity leave, as well as parental leave for adoptive parents. Discussion topics on parenting with industry experts such as DoctorOnCall are also a norm in parenting circles in the organization.
The Accenture SEA Gender Allyship program led by the Malaysian team aims to cultivate allies who are aware of gender bias and passionate about taking affirmative action. Due to its success, the program is due to be rolled out in other countries.
Jee Lian is the Gamuda Group Chief Sustainability and Communications Officer, and has spearheaded gender-inclusive initiatives within the organization such as the establishment of on-site childcare centres, Gamuda Women Empowerment Network (GWEN) and the Group’s ESG strategies.
In 2014, Jee Lian led a team in planning and establishing Gamuda’s on-site childcare centre to enable working parents (especially mothers) to re-enter the workforce and progress in their careers. She also ensured that all Gamuda employees are prioritized and given subsidised rates when using the childcare centre services. Jee Lian also launched Gamuda Women Empowerment Network (GWEN), a support network to discuss career opportunities and advancement for female employees in the company. GWEN strives to create a diverse leadership pipeline where women can be equally represented.
A small carpentry business started by husband and wife Luqman and Siti Faznur located in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Brutti & Besi has introduced period leaves for female employees. All female employees are entitled to take a day off every month for period pain without any questions asked.
After co-founder Siti Faznur was diagnosed with uterine fibroids, the couple realized that many other women suffer from a variety of conditions which can cause debilitating period pain. Through conversations with doctors and their own staff, they decided to create a one-day period leave per month, in which women would not have to present a medical certificate.
2nd Runners Up
As a Partner at Wong & Partners, Kherk Ying has chaired the Inclusion & Diversity (I&D) Committee, strongly supported the company’s bAgile policy, and volunteers as the PointOne contact person for the Kuala Lumpur office.
bAgile is a comprehensive talent retention initiative which offers flexible and agile working arrangements. Understanding the struggles of new parents, Kherk Ying has been a vocal supporter of the program and actively encourages parents (especially mothers) to build a flexible working arrangement that is best suited for them.
Kherk Ying has also championed PointOne, a program that communicates unambiguous expectations for
behaviour and provides clear and safe paths for raising and managing concerns. As the primary contact, Kherk Ying provides a safe and supportive space for all, and is able to provide actionable advice for next steps.
Under her leadership, Wong & Partners has gone on to be 5-time winners of the Malaysia Firm of the Year Award at the Euromoney Women in Business Law Awards Asia.
KPMG aims to attract diverse and top talent in the industry by creating an environment that is inclusive and equitable for all. The founding values of the firm are also steeped in D&I when Ethel Watts became the first woman to qualify as an accountant in 1924 with the support of KPMG’s founding partner Sir Willian Peat.
With the majority of KPMG Malaysia’s young workforce being millennials, the firm remains committed to provide a supportive environment for the employees to build their careers without sacrificing family. Currently, KPMG Malaysia provides extended maternity leave, paternity leave and parental leave, regardless of marital status.
With inclusive policies in place, the percentage of women in senior management and positions have been steadily increasing. In 2022, 4 out of the 5 new partners appointed were women, and female employees currently outnumber male employees at all levels of employment– from associates to director levels.
Pentago Landscape Malaysia remains as one of the leading organizations in combining Architecture, Master Planning and Landscape to create sustainable and livable site designs. While the industry has gained more recognition over the years, it remains a male dominated field. Pentago has been committed to increasing female representation through inclusive maternity care programs, training classes, formal women’s mentorship programs, financial grants for professional certification and informal support groups. These in-house initiatives are championed and supported by the Principal Director and founding member Wendy Khaw, who continues to take an active participatory role.
Pentago also organizes women’s training sessions which are routinely led by female key industry leaders in Landscape Architecture. While technical knowledge is also shared, these programs connect networks of women in design across the field and highlight the need for specific guidance for interpersonal skills to survive as a female designer.
*The UN Women Asia-Pacific WEPs Awards represents recognition of exemplary company efforts for gender equality and is limited to a designated category and a specific location and time period. Awarded organizations, alongside their products and services, receiving awards are not endorsed or affiliated with UN Women or WeEmpowerAsia and being recognized as an Awardee does not constitute a partnership. Claims, statements, or endorsements made by awardees are solely those of the individual or organization and do not represent official policies or positions of UN Women.