Malaysia’s Sexual Harassment Bill: Ensuring economic recovery and prosperity, while ending Workplace Sexual Harassment

The Malaysian Employers Federation’s recent statement questioning Malaysia’s need for a specific Sexual Harassment Bill is a disappointing display of not only tone deafness, but a lack of insight on the immense economic gains of this momentous Bill for Malaysian women and other affected minorities.

MEF’s statement that “having a specific legislation on sexual harassment would also project a negative image of Malaysia to potential investors as they may mistakenly belief that sexual harassment was a major issue in Malaysia – when in reality it was isolated and manageable.”

Let’s take stock here- Malaysia’s FDI saw a commendable 223% increase in the first half of 2021, with a record RM107.5 billion total investments. In order to make Malaysia even more attractive to investors and support equitable economic recovery through the pandemic, it’s essential for Workplace Sexual Harassment to be actionably addressed. 

Workplace Sexual Harassment (SH) is not “isolated and manageable” - this is a baseless claim as Workplace SH is a systemic, endemic issue and a broader reflection of existing gender inequality in global societies and by extension, in Malaysian society. Statistics from around the world show a range of anywhere between 30% to 80% Workplace Sexual Harassment prevalence.  

One in five countries do not have appropriate laws against sexual harassment in employment. This currently places Malaysia in a global minority of 13.5% of countries that lack essential legislation against Sexual Harassment. 

Having necessary legislation like Malaysia’s Sexual Harassment Bill in place will boost international investors’ confidence regarding structural and legal elements of women’s and worker’s rights in Malaysia. Appropriate legislation also encourages respect towards our Malaysian workforce from international companies coming into the country and in tandem, helps eliminate all forms of discrimination and abuse in the workplace.

With Malaysia meeting global trends and standards towards Gender Equality, foreign investors would be compelled to further invest locally, once we adopt a robust Sexual Harassment Bill, rather than withdraw investments. 

Championing women’s equality at workplaces and in society has also consistently represented one of the world’s most sizeable economic opportunities, made ever more crucial in light of the COVID-19 pandemic’s economic challenges.

McKinsey Global Institute’s 2018 report, ‘The Power of Parity: Advancing Women’s Equality in Asia Pacific’ states that advancing women’s equality in the countries of Asia Pacific could add $4.5 trillion to their collective annual GDP by 2025, or a 12 percent increase over the business-as-usual trajectory.

Deloitte Access Economics 2018 Australia-centric survey showed that Workplace Sexual Harassment cost the Australian economy alone, a staggering $2.6 billion in lost productivity and $0.9 billion in other financial costs. 

Meanwhile, Malaysia-wise, income per capita could grow by 26.2 percent – implying an average annual income gain of RM 9,400 (US$2,250) if all economic barriers are removed for women in Malaysia- according to ‘Breaking Barriers: Toward Better Economic Opportunities for Women in Malaysia’, a 2019 World Bank report. 

Taken together, all these figures go to show that addressing Workplace Sexual Harassment is a critical component of meeting international workplace safety standards, increasing employee productivity and ultimately supporting Malaysia’s aspirations for economic recovery and Gender Equality, while meeting national and SDG 2030 goals. 

Addressing Workplace Sexual Harassment, despite its pervasive nature is possible- through a combination of legislative, corporate training and industry specific awareness mechanisms. 

Primarily, Malaysia must table the long overdue stand-alone Sexual Harassment Bill in Parliament without any further delay- ignoring this urgent basic dignity and human rights issue gravely impacts Malaysian women, who are disproportionately affected by Workplace Sexual Harassment, plus bearing the burden of its much broader socio-economic impacts. 

MEF then states that, “existing legislation and regulations are already addressing the problem adequately" This is highly inaccurate as existing legislation and regulations do not broadly cover freelancers, contract staff, interactions between customers/clients, students and varsities, hospital staff etc. 

MEF continues to say, “It is also common for employers to have their own policies and mechanisms to handle complaints of sexual harassment at the workplace as no employer would condone such acts”

Horror stories of inadequate protection for Workplace Sexual Harassment cases in Malaysian workplaces stretch back decades and here’s a few reasons why:

Sexual Harassment victims are often hesitant to make use of internal policies and mechanisms due to a clear trust deficit with Human Resources. This can take several forms- sexual harassers might be close to HR, hold positions of power, or the particular workplace environment itself can be toxic and one where Workplace Sexual Harassment is normalised, while speaking up is actively and implicitly discouraged.

Malaysian workplaces also have no clear non-retaliation policy, nor enforcement. Harassers and their allies have been known to retaliate and alienate Workplace Sexual Harassment victims who report them. Furthermore, victims or witnesses to workplace sexual harassment cannot report anonymously.

This is a good juncture to delve deeper into the multifarious economic costs of failing to adequately address Workplace Sexual Harassment.

Time’s Up and the Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR) new July 2021 study ‘Paying Today andTomorrow: Charting the Financial Costs of Workplace Sexual Harassment’, discovered the following about women who’d faced Workplace SH:

Workplace Sexual Harassment remains pervasive: up to 85% of women will experience Workplace SH over the course of their careers. Almost all women who suffered Workplace Sexual Harassment said they lost some work or were forced out of their jobs altogether. Most lost responsibilities and pay as retaliation for speaking up—they were docked hours, given poor performance evaluations, or denied bonuses and promotions until they were pushed out or fired. Some remained unemployed for as long as five years.

Many changed careers, starting back at the bottom in jobs that paid much less than what they left behind, according to the study. For a few, it meant spending even more money on retraining or tuition. Meanwhile, all suffered from lost wages, lost health benefits and depleted retirement savings as debts piled up.

MEF was also “concerned by a proposal to set up a specific tribunal for complaints on sexual harassment, as the relevant company’s internal processes may be bypassed"

Given the exhaustively elaborated weaknesses of internal processes at Malaysian workplaces which fail to address Workplace Sexual Harassment, it’s essential for victims to have an external, impartial tribunal option for redress. This also helps move beyond the “he said, she said” conundrum of injustice that internal mechanisms often boil down to. 

MEF felt “Such a scenario…, could seriously disrupt industrial harmony and must be avoided."

The fact of the matter remains that Workplace Sexual Harassment is a constant disruptor of industrial harmony and must be addressed, not shoved under the carpet in hopes that it somehow goes away. 

Additionally, assuring women of workplace safety can also help to increase Malaysia’s historically low Female Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR)- in 2019, it stood at 55.6% only, compared to 80.9% for men, indeed, one of the lowest in South-East Asia - through removing all barriers to thriving at work in their industry of choice, including the ever pervasive stumbling block of Workplace Sexual Harassment. 

Passing Malaysia’s Sexual Harassment Bill can thus prove pivotal to encourage women’s confidence to join and remain in the labour force, especially in a pandemic hit economy. 

I cannot emphasise enough that Malaysia’s Sexual Harassment Bill aims to protect women’s as well as men’s rights and dignity, through a comprehensive definition of sexual harassment, more effective complaint and solutions mechanisms, remedial elements and penalties. All of this will fill critical gaps in current provisions, while providing a better template for addressing procedures and protections, and most importantly, ensuring that women and vulnerable minorities feel safe at work.

While it’s understandable that change, especially to long standing and unfortunately misogynistic employment culture, is uncomfortable and often unwelcome, it’s essential for MEF to take stock of the immense economic and social cost and losses of not addressing Workplace Sexual Harassment.

In the meanwhile, MEF also makes the perfect champion for addressing the many weaknesses in internal reporting mechanisms which deny Workplace Sexual Harassment survivors redress and justice.

This may also become easier once MEF increases the diversity of their own Board. According to the Malaysian Employers Federation’s website they currently have only 2 women out of 14 elected board members.

In conclusion, let’s remember that Sexual Harassment also takes place in non-workplace contexts, thus tabling and passing Malaysia’s Sexual Harassment Bill is a huge overall positive, and additionally, it further enhances Malaysia’s status as an attractive investment hub.

A safer country and workplaces are a resounding way to boost Malaysia’s economy, rather than the Malaysian Employers Federation’s outdated and unfounded fear mongering.

-Tehmina Kaoosji is an Independent Broadcast Journalist, Gender Activist & Communications Consultant based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

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