PUTRAJAYA, Oct 2 - Women's participation in the public service sector has risen significantly, comprising 60.41 per cent of total permanent civil servants, as of September 25.
Deputy Communications Minister Teo Nie Ching said that during the same period, data from the Public Service Department (JPA) also recorded an increase in women's participation in the top management group from 39.32 per cent in 2024 to 39.96 per cent.
"This figure does not include women in uniformed bodies. At the same time, we see that in the Communications Ministry, this figure (women's participation in the public service) is very commendable.
"We hope that through this INSPIREHER Forum, we can inspire more women public servants to continue moving forward," she told the media after officiating the closing ceremony of the INSPIREHER Forum, organised by the Tun Abdul Razak Broadcasting and Information Institute (IPPTAR) today.
Teo added that in the Communications Ministry, women make up 44 per cent of the total staff, with the Community Communications Department (J-KOM) recording 57 per cent, IPPTAR (56 per cent), and the Malaysian National News Agency (Bernama) 54 per cent.
"For the ministry’s top management group, the involvement of women has increased from 26 per cent last year to 30 per cent so far," she said.
Several agencies under the Communications Ministry also recorded high participation of women in top management groups, including the Information Department (JAPEN) at 67 per cent, the National Film Development Corporation Malaysia (FINAS) at 50 per cent, and Bernama at 33 per cent.
In related developments, the AI@NADI programme, organised by the National Information Dissemination Centre (NADI) in collaboration with the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), has been introduced in all 1,099 NADIs nationwide since June.
Teo said the programme aims for 25,000 participants by the end of this year, and as of Aug 31, 20,044 participants have been recorded.
"So far, 1,247 participants are undergoing these stages, and of that number, 856 participants or 69 per cent are women," she said.
The programme also aims to produce at least one prompt engineer in each NADI to strengthen artificial intelligence technology mastery at the community level.