Nurul Izzah Anwar, the former Senior Advisor to the Finance Minister, highlighted that many Malaysian women are held back by daily challenges, particularly household duties and limited support systems, which make it difficult for them to remain in employment or re-enter the labour market.

Despite women comprising nearly 57 per cent of university enrolments in Malaysia, she noted that millions remain absent from the workforce at the World Women Economic and Business Summit 2025 held on July 10th.

“The truth is that millions of women remain absent from the workforce, but not for lack of talent or ambition,” she said during her address at the summit.”

Referring to figures from 2022, Nurul Izzah pointed out that the female labour force participation rate was just 55.8 per cent, significantly trailing the 82 per cent recorded for men. Malaysia now aims to push this number to 60 per cent within the next decade, as part of its Madani Economy Framework.

However, she stressed that real progress would require significant changes. “It is not enough to rely on inspirational stories or isolated policy tweaks,” she said. “Our progress as a nation depends on liberating every woman from this double burden.”

She also drew attention to data showing that over three million women in Malaysia cited domestic duties and caring responsibilities as the primary reason for staying out of paid work.

Globally, women account for 76.4 per cent of unpaid care work, averaging 4.5 hours a day, compared to 1.4 hours for men. Even among those in full-time employment, women carry out 60 per cent more unpaid care work than men, according to the Khazanah Research Institute’s 2018 Time Use Study.

Describing this as a “double shift”, Nurul Izzah called it an issue that remains largely unseen and unaddressed.

This year’s summit, themed “Transforming Tomorrow: Women Leading in a Digital, Sustainable, and Inclusive Future”, also focused on how digital transformation could pose risks for gender equality.

She warned that without safeguards, artificial intelligence could reinforce existing social inequalities. “A unified approach is vital to ensure gender bias mitigation becomes a central priority, not an afterthought, in AI development,” she said.

Also addressing the summit, Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek said advancing women’s economic participation could significantly boost the nation’s prosperity.

“This isn’t just a matter of fairness. It’s smart economics,” she said