ABSTRACT
Starting with the Fifth Malaysian Plan (1986-1990), the crucial role of women in developing Malaysia has been increasingly reflected in the national development agenda. In 1989 the government introduced the National Policy for Women (NPW). This policy provided long-term sectoral planning to integrate and incorporate women in Malaysia’s quest to become fully developed. The NPW identified three key objectives: (1) to ensure greater equality of access to resources, information, opportunities for participation and development benefits for both men and women, (2) to enable women, who form half of the country’s population, to contribute and achieve their full potential and (3) to integrate women into all sectors of national development, based on their needs, that would upgrade their quality of life, eradicate poverty, abolish ignorance and illiteracy and uphold the peace and prosperity of the nation (Malaysia Government, 1991).
Over the years, in line with the NPW, more employment opportunities have been made available for women. Despite these advances, research on Malaysian women in management is still in its infancy (Omar and Davidson, 2004), with very few systematic and empirical studies on the ‘changing faces’ of these managers and the challenges they face in their managerial careers (see Sieh et al., 1991; Ng, 1999; Syed Ahmad, 1997). Drawing from this sparse literature and a more recent study concluded in 2004, this chapter looks at the broad picture of women in management in Malaysia. Following this
introduction, this chapter will outline the context for women managers in Malaysia, examining critical political, economic, social and legal frameworks affecting women’s advancement in management in general, and examine challenges faced by some women managers, with two case studies/vignettes to bring to life and exemplify the issues.
