Kota Kinabalu: Sabah currently has a population of 3.6 million, a six-fold increase since the 1970s, of which only 60 per cent are as productive working force, the Sabah Economic Planning Unit (Upen) said.
Its Deputy Director (Policy Division) Celestina Aron said in taking advantage of Sabah’s current demographic dividend, areas of focus and centrality of the Sabah Maju Jaya Roadmap (2021-2025) included job creation.
This is done through investments in agriculture, industrial development and tourism, alongside ensuring adequate healthcare in the face of the state’s ageing population.
Celestina said the State Government had also allocated RM5.83 million to upskill women, adding that Sabah women’s Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) stands at 55 per cent.
She hoped grants given to women under the SMJ Roadmap would contribute to the government’s efforts to increase overall female LFPR from to 60 per cent.
She shared this during the recent launch of the landmark report “Demographic and Socioeconomic Changes in Sabah” by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in collaboration with the Population Studies Unit, Universiti Malaya and Universiti Malaysia Sabah.
The event culminated with a two part panel on Sabah’s demographic changes and its impact on the state’s socioeconomic wellbeing.
Several panellists brought forth in-depth discussions on the central role of gender as well as sexual and reproductive health and rights for Sabah’s socio economic development.
UMS Associate Professor Dr Janice Nga said stereotyping and gender discrimination were one of the main drivers behind the gender gap in Sabah, and Malaysia more broadly.
She said awareness programmes were necessary to correct this at all levels while there must be equal access to opportunities for both genders, not only for education but also policymaking.
“If you don’t have women candidates, how can you have state assemblywomen?” she asked, adding that only 43 out of 447 candidates in the 2020 Sabah State Elections were women.
UNFPA Malaysia Assistant Representative Tengku Aira Tengku Razif reiterated the importance of increasing the female LFPR towards ensuring equitable economic growth which could only be achieved through ensuring the reproductive rights of women and girls.
“If we equip young people with comprehensive sexuality education, and they know their reproductive rights, they will be able to decide when to have children and how to plan their future.
“If we provide industry practices that are supportive of reproductive rights, for example child care policies, universal access to sexual and reproductive health, flexible working arrangements and programmes supporting women to re-enter the workforce, we will then have more women in the labour force,” she said.
On parental leave, Aira said there was a need to shift away from maternity and paternity leave, as it creates a more equitable dynamic.
“If we have high maternity leave and low paternity leave, we are still assuming that the majority of the role at home needs to be carried out by women.
“We should promote shared responsibility, and parental leave gives the opportunity to promote this,” she said.
Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist Dr John Teo emphasised that ensuring access to maternal health services and family planning should be freely available for all, akin to policies currently in place for the treatment of infectious diseases.
Based on his experience working with the undocumented migrant population to highlight the barriers faced by marginalised women in obtaining sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services, Dr John said their main barriers are affordability and access.
“If you can prevent unintended pregnancies, you can prevent all the consequences of unsafe deliveries.
“The cost of treating women on humanitarian grounds would be much more than the cost of providing preventive measures such as contraception, which is very cheap,” he said.
Meanwhile, the National Population and Family Development Board Malaysia (NPFDB) said social and behavioural change is needed to transform social attitudes and family planning across Sabah.
Its Head Clinical and Medical Officer Dr Halimatul Aris said to initiate effective change, there must be interventions that acknowledge the unique, localised barriers for family planning in any given area.
“It is different when you see the women in Sabah, the women in Sarawak, the women in Kuala Lumpur.
“In Sabah itself there are many ethnicities, it might be that the women of one district have a different barrier for why they do not want to seek family planning, as compared to women in other districts.
“It’s important to understand the barriers they’re having, their fears, they’re women from different backgrounds that you’re seeing,” she said.
