At least one woman director to be made a must at public-listed companies

The Securities Commission will make it mandatory for all public-listed companies to appoint at least one female director.

The proposal, announced by Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Aziz during his 2022 budget speech today, will take effect from September next year beginning with large companies.

Zafrul said the move was a form of recognition by the government of the role of women in the corporate world.

At the moment, he said, women comprise 25% of the board members at the top 100 public companies.

“However, there are still 27% or 252 companies listed on Bursa Malaysia that do not have a female director.”

Zafrul said the government has also set aside RM5 million for the Women’s Leadership Foundation to boost women’s participation in the economic sector through leadership training and entrepreneurship programmes, among others.

RM230 million will be provided through the Dananita programme under Mara and Tekunita under Tekun to help women entrepreneurs who have been affected by Covid-19.

Meanwhile, RM30 million has been allocated to provide nursery facilities in government buildings, especially at public hospitals and universities.

Individual income tax relief of up to RM3,000 will also be extended for the payment of nursery and kindergarten fees until the year of assessment of 2023.

Another RM13 million will be allocated to empower Division D11 of the Royal Malaysian Police for Sexual, Women and Child Investigation, including the creation of 100 new posts.