FACULTY OF BUSNIESS MANAGEMENT

BACHELOR OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION (HONS) HUMAN RESOURCE

MANAGEMENT(BA243)

COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS (HRM 648)

INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT: WAGE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN GENDERS

PREPARE FOR: MADAM NUR AZURA BINTI DAHALAN

NAME: NUR QURRATUL AINI BINTI ZAINAL FITHRI

STUDENT ID: 2020869706
CLASS: BA2434B

SUBMISSION DATE: 15 MAY 2022

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1.0 INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………………………………2
2.0 CONTENT............................................................................................................................3-8
2.1 DATA OF SALARIES AND WAGES 2020………………………………......................3
2.2 DIFFERENT IN MEN & WOMAN SALARY IN MALAYSIA………………………...4-5
2.3 REASON OF THE DIFFERENT SALARY BETWEEN MAN AND WOMAN……….6
2.4 THE IMPACT ON WOMAN…………………………………………………………….7
2.5 COMPANIES THAT SUPPORT WOMEN IN WORKPLACE…………………………8-9
3.0 CONCLUSION ....................................................................................................................10
4.0 REFERENCES…………………………………………………………………………….11

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1.0 INTRODUCTION
In this individual assignment, the title is Wage Differences Between Genders. We can see in this
assignment the important point of the wage differences between gender in Malaysia still exist
and the gap is quite large in some cases. Since Malaysia has multiracial culture, we can see there
is a lot of culture behaviors, mindset and more reason that influence the wage different of
working women. There are a few reasons that been laid in this assignment so we can see the
different wages between men and women in every level and sector or industry in Malaysia. In
some industry the different of the wages is not as big as other industry and there is a reason to it.
As a result, we can see important point that is discuss that affect the wage different between
gender in Malaysia until today.

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2.0 CONTENT
2.1 DATA OF SALARIES AND WAGES 2020
Based Salaries & Wages Survey Report, Malaysia, 2020 the monthly salaries and wages of
employees by sex indicate that the mean salary for both gender is continuously decreased in
2020 due to COVID-19 pandemic and operation of the Movement Control Order (MCO) in the
country as shown in graph 1.0.

According to the survey's findings, males have consistently earned greater median monthly
incomes than females since 2010. Male employees' monthly salary and wages were RM2,093 in
2020, down 15.5 percent from RM2,477 the previous year. Meanwhile, the median salary for
female employees fell 14.8% to RM2,019 per month (2019: RM2,370). Male employees' mean
monthly earnings and pay declined by RM341 (negative 10.3%) to RM2,963 in 2020, while
female employees' salaries and wages fell by RM219 (negative 7.0%) to RM2,889, compared to
the previous year (Department of Statistics Malaysia Official Portal, 2022).

Graph 1.0

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2.2 DIFFERENT IN MEN & WOMAN SALARY IN MALAYSIA

The different between Men and Woman salary can be seen in various factor and different
occupation in Malaysia. The different can be seen based on earning based on occupation,
education level and many more.

Graph 2.0

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 Based on the graph, we can see that in the year 2018 every occupation in various sector were
dominated by men and in most of the occupation the gap of the earning of men compared to
woman is more than 10% and the biggest gap is 34.9%. The graph shown that most of the job
was dominant by men having the most pay from elementary occupations until the highest level
of job as manager and more.

The gap of earning between men and woman is still a problem that happen till today and it
does not matter the level of education or experiences that one could have but for woman they
will always receive lower earning than men even they have more experiences and higher
education level. This also indicate that no matter what woman in Malaysia are still get paid lesser
than men thus making the effort in work and qualifications that woman have seem useless
because there is no guarantee that they will have better paid equally to men.

Until 2020, we can see that there has been lesser in the gap of pay but still it it’s hard to find a
job or position where a man and a woman has the same pay level with the same position. The
pay level differences make a huge impact on woman everyday life as they also have the right to
be appreciated by their hard work and get more recognition and chance to enhance their working
capabilities as same as men.

As in Malaysia, it is more as a culture behavior where woman consider uncappable of great

things and the idea is familiarize by everyone especially the older generation but luckily the new
generation this day already begun to break the stereotype where women can be as good as man in
any level. We are not saying woman are strong physically as man, but woman also could uphold
a good work capabilities, qualities, and skills as man.

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2.3 REASON OF THE DIFFERENT SALARY BETWEEN MAN AND WOMAN
There is many reasons or factor that contribute towards why woman still get less paid than
man and a lot of negative impact on woman regarding the pay gap in Malaysia. Some of them
are woman feels under appreciates, they work as hard as man, but they get paid less and it is not
fair. As I said earlier, it is a culture behavior or preference where still until now woman that has
been married is expected to be at home as housewife for the rest of their life “until the 1960s,
there was a common belief in the society in general that women are ideally better off as
housewives and when educated should be channeled into teaching, nursing, or other feminine
occupations”. (Ariffin 1992, 55)

Woman has proved that they are compatible with man in many situations and woman also
prove that they work harder than man but still get less appreciated. In most sector of work or
department we can see woman work much harder and could say dominated some industries such
as the education fields. Especially in Malaysia education system, we can see that 90% of the
educator or teacher were women and only 10% of it are man but even being outnumber man still
have better chance of being promoted and most of the higher position such as dean of high
school only has been filled with man and rarely, we could a female or woman dean.

The most common opinion or problem was the general or cultural idea of a woman was to be
at home to raise children instead of working in an office. This still happen in Malaysia especially
in the rural area and families that still stick with the old culture. This mindset then will be
transfer to workplace where most higher ups reluctant to give more higher position to woman as
they might not have the criteria to handle more responsibilities as they might have trouble to
manage work life with personal life. Also, most companies and man say that woman maternity
leave was “an excused to be lazy” as they would need at least 3 months to recover their self and
take care of their babies. Thus, for most companies having woman in a higher position would be
inconvenient.

Lastly, woman seems struggle to balance their work life and personal life in Malaysia
especially married woman it is because they did not have the support from others especially from
their partner and families. Most man think that their job is to provide stable income for the
family and not on handle household and leave it entirely to woman. Until to these days, most

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woman still struggle to juggle between personal and work life, but the problem gradually
improve because they are a lot of awareness in today society.

2.4 THE IMPACT ON WOMAN

The first and most visible impact on woman was they don’t get a chance for a career
advancement much than man has most of the time. Only a few that are lucky get a chance to be
in a higher position, but it takes a lot more time for woman than man to have such position.
Some women need about 7-10 years to have a chance to be promoted and so on while man need
lesser time than woman. We can see in many situations where a woman and man held the same
position with the same weight of responsibilities but when it comes to promotion man have an
easier way with it than woman. In most cases we know that woman work meticulously and have
high quality because woman pay attention to details than man but not all, we can also see some
man that pay attention to details much more than woman especially in the fashion industry where
the male designer quality work is no lower than the women.

The chain effect from having no chance of advancement career is have no chance to improve
income as year goes by. Woman must stick with low or middle position for most of their entire
life with the same amount of salary than man and it is still happening especially in third world
country like Malaysia. In some cases, woman has more workload than a man does while having
the same position in a company, but she is being paid with the same amount of work that the man
does. This happens to most woman regardless of the experience or education level in many
sectors.

Woman has less choices of work to choose because many people believe that not every job is
made for woman, and some are not suitable for woman as mentioned earlier. For example, many
years ago, people think that engineering, mechanics, or sport are not the profession that suit
woman, but it is now change by a few women that prove woman also can make those as their
profession but still have a slim chance for many women throughout the world. The pressure or
expectation given to woman is not making it any easier as they cannot afford to fail because it
could people perspective forever.

Feeling underrated or appreciated by the company that they work for is most common feeling or
complaint given from woman. This is because lack of career enhance opportunity, not much of

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training or workshop given to polish their knowledge, ability, skills and other (KSAO). All this
small factor is affecting woman work performance and their motivation to provide better
outcome in their quality of work and just decide to maintain the same quality level until they
resign or retired.

2.5 COMPANIES THAT SUPPORT WOMEN IN WORKPLACE

There is many companies that offer maternity leave and other benefit for women but this were
some that outstand other and most recommended company especially for married women.

First is Hewlett Packard Enterprise or more known as HP a company that most known for
their technologies in computer, laptop, and other electronics gadget. In the HPE, work-life
balance is an absolute priority, hence its motto: “We work to live, we don’t live to work.”
Following these principles, HPE makes sure its employees received plenty of benefits. The first
benefit is that the paid parental leaves for mothers and fathers for up to 6 months, this is most
beneficial for women as they need to take leave after giving birth as a process to recover and
having a company that understand the needs is a big help for women who is working in the
company. Then HPE also provide programs for working mothers that are returning to work after
maternity leave, the program helps women to get on their right track to working life as they
might have found it a bit difficult after long months leaving their jobs behind.

Next, is KPMG Malaysia, many working mothers manage their commitments as

professionals. KPMG, on the other hand, wants to give women a support structure that will help
them succeed both at home and at work. A few efforts, such as internal parent support groups
and family-based events, help to achieve this aim. As a result, women are not forced to choose
between one area of their lives and another. KPMG benefits for women and mothers include
Bring-Your-Kids-to-Work Day, which are much needed especially in this era where they are
many children abused in many of the children daycare so by having one at the office will help
ease the mother worries about their children safety. Flexi-hours, flexi-place work, and autonomy
to decide the best schedule for the day and many more are big help or benefit for a mother
whether new or old especially when they can alter their work life to support them in personal
life.

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Then, the third companies are Digi.Com. Digi.com is one of the few Malaysian companies to
land on Bloomberg’s 2021 Gender Equality Index. This award highlights the telecoms company's
efforts to increase workplace openness in terms of gender-related practices and regulations.
Among the initiatives and rewards are six months of maternity leave. Next, flexible working
hours where women can alter their time to get the job done as they like especially as a mother
with children. Then, free access to online learning platforms where a mother or women can
access a program that could increase their knowledge, ability, and skills without has to be
physically in a classroom or other because they can easily access it through their computer at
home even when they are taking the maternity leave.

Another example of company is CIMB Group. Work-life balance is critical, and CIMB takes it
seriously. The corporation offers a "Workplace Wellness@CIMB" effort to help employees
achieve their professional and personal objectives. The organization was recognized as the Best
Malaysian Organization at TalentCorp's LIFE AT WORK award in 2019. Employees receive a
lot of benefit it includes six months of maternity leave. Next, financial assistance which suit the
company as financial company. Then, flexi-work arrangements for parents of children with
special needs, this type of benefit is rare to see in other companies in Malaysia because children
with special needs more attention which indicate more time needed by having flexible working
schedule is a great help for parent especially mothers. Furthermore, CIMB Group offers
childcare centers, and nursing rooms for mothers in the office to help them manage their children
even at work especially a new mother. Lastly, 30-day paternity leave for first-time fathers, CIMB
Group also give benefit to men not just women, so they have a balance and fair benefit for both
genders.

The last company is KPJ Healthcare Berhad, with strong feedback and employee ratings, KPJ
has been awarded as one of the Best Companies to Work for in Asia by HR Asia in 2018 and
2020. The firm has a number of advantages, including postgraduate scholarships for continuing
studies, flexible working hours and maternity medical benefits. The focus was the maternity
medical benefit, which could include cost of giving birth or the hospital bill and more.

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3.0 CONCLUSION
In conclusion we can see that women still have to overcome many difficulties in workplace,
but things are slowly changing even though not all but some has made effort towards changes.
The wage differences between genders still exist and in some industry the gap is quite large than
some industry mainly due to perception of a woman and the low number of men in some
industry that lead to more demand and higher salary being paid than the women in the same
industry. Also as been said before in some industry the demand for men higher than women such
as heavy industry or manufacturing industry. We can also see some company in Malaysia has
already initiate some program to help their employees especially for women such as the daycare
at workplace and more that help ease women who are at the same time is a mother working in
their companies. We should hope that as more year’s pass, we can eliminate the wage differences
between genders so we can see in every industry where women and men are paid equally.

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4.0 REFERENCES

1.Department of Statistics Malaysia Official Portal. (2022). Dosm.gov.my.

https://www.dosm.gov.my/v1/index.php?r=column/cthemeByCat&cat=157&bul_id=VDR

Dc0pGZHpieEUwMDNFWHVHSnpkdz09&menu_id=Tm8zcnRjdVRNWWlpWjRlbmtla

Dk1UT09

2.Japan Labor Issues. (2019). https://www.jil.go.jp/english/jli/documents/2019/017-

00.pdf#page=24

3.Ariffin, J. 1992. Women and Development in Malaysia. Petaling Jaya: Pelanduk Publications

‌4. Here Are 5 Amazing Malaysian Companies That Empower Women | Career Resources. (2020,

October 11). Retrieved May 6, 2022, from Career Resources website:

https://www.jobstreet.com.my/career-resources/work-life-well-being/here-are-5-amazing-

malaysian-companies-that-empower-women/

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