Family-Friendly Work Conditions (FFWCs), Gender Concept and Welfare Regime in Malaysia: a document analysis

doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-3971446/v1

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Family-Friendly Work Conditions (FFWCs), Gender Concept and Welfare Regime in Malaysia: a document analysis

https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-3971446/v1

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Gender disparities in paid work persist, despite implementing family-friendly work conditions (FFWCs) aimed at increasing women’s paid work participation. Global evidence demonstrates an interaction between gender and welfare regimes that underpin FFWCs, which may render them ineffective in achieving the goal of equitable participation. However, the existing findings are not easily transferrable to the Malaysian context. Evidence for hidden inequities in FFWCs documents in the context of gender and welfare regime in Malaysia has not been comprehensively uncovered. This document analysis aids in exploring which FFWCs has been documented and uncovering FFWCs’ interpretation in the context of gender concepts and welfare regime in Malaysia. Thirty-six documents on FFWCs were reviewed. Findings showed some distinction in the identified FFWCs between public sector, private and international organisations, yet the differences indicated all organisations maintain and conform with Malaysia’s welfare regime. While the intent of FFWCs focuses on women’s inclusion in the workforce, there appeared to be tensions with the values underlying welfare regime in preserving values associated with traditional family systems. This paper offers a way forward in Malaysian FFWCs by accounting for the influence of traditional gender role ideology and reframing women's and gender narratives, including the use of gender-neutral language.

childcare supports

flexible work arrangements

gender concept

leave policies

traditional gender roles

welfare regime

Family policies (referred to in this paper as family-friendly work conditions (FFWCs)) have emerged internationally as an incentivising instrument for increasing women’s paid work participation, especially among mothers, including in Malaysia (Economic Planning Unit [EPU], 1996; Elias, 2009; Ferragina, 2020; Hegewisch & Gornick, 2011). Yet, FFWCs have played an ambiguous role and can be categorised into two family policy expansion movements (Abramovitz, 2018; Ferragina, 2019). The first movement defines family policy expansion as another tool for promoting neoliberalism with its emphasis on individual autonomy and responsibility regarding family over state support, while the second advocates for a more gender-friendly environment for working parents with young children (Alonso et al., 2019; Ferragina, 2019; Heenan, 2021; Venugopal, 2015).

The first approach sees governments using FFWCs to increase women’s (notably mothers) paid work participation, which remains characterised by industrial and occupational segregation, gender precariousness and wage differentials (Chung, 2018; Ferragina, 2019; LeBaron, 2010). The second movement seeks to partially liberate mothers from household duties and caregiving, redistribute unpaid work between men and women, and is consistent with more egalitarian traditions in the household and labour market, such as those exemplified by Nordic countries (Alonso et al., 2019; Boeckmann et al., 2015; Ferragina, 2019; Kanas & Steinmetz, 2021; World Economic Forum, 2022). According to Ferragina (2019), the first movement is the dominant policy approach in 23 OECD countries (including Australia, the United Kingdom, Denmark and Switzerland). However, the positioning of Malaysia in terms of family policy expansion movements remains unclear.

The global findings demonstrate that FFWCs are characterised by a country’s welfare regime and/or family policy typologies and continue to influence women’s employment rates (Esping-Andersen, 1990; Ferragina, 2020; Ferragina & Seeleib-Kaiser, 2015; Thévenon, 2011). Additionally, there are intricate implications concerning gender assumptions underlying FFWCs which may impact women's paid work participation (Budig et al., 2015; Wall & Escobedo, 2013). Nonetheless, due to differences in household composition (cultural and religious) and conceptions of family structures and values (traditional), the applicability of this global evidence, which is primarily from Western and Nordic countries to the Malaysian context is limited.

There is little knowledge about the impact of welfare regime and gender assumptions underlying FFWCs documentation in Malaysia, particularly through document analysis. Furthermore, existing global and national findings were biased due to the exclusion of the role of other non-domestic determinants in Malaysia (private and international organisations) as well as discounting of country-specific and unique characteristics. This paper aimed to address these gaps by generating new knowledge about the interpretation of FFWCs in the context of gender and welfare regime, with a focus on Malaysia specifically, and by the inclusion of FFWCs documents from both private and international organisations alongside public sector in the analysis.

The overall aim of this paper was to explore which FFWCs have been documented and uncover FFWCs’ interpretation in the context of gender and welfare regime. Evidence from this paper contributes to the gender and welfare regime literature on documented FFWCs in Malaysia. The findings of this study may be used to develop relevant strategies to increase women’s equity in paid work participation which aligns with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 5 (Gender Equality) and 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth) (United Nations, n.d.). The research design for this study includes a document analysis of FFWCs documents from the government (state), private and international organisations (market).

How Welfare Regimes and Gendered Typologies Influence the Impact of Family-Friendly Work Conditions on Women’s Work Participation

In the global welfare regime literature, FFWCs implementation was influenced by the country’s welfare regime and/or family policy typologies (Esping-Andersen, 1990; Ferragina & Seeleib-Kaiser, 2015; Thévenon, 2011). The differences in countries’ family policy typologies continue to have an impact on women’s employment rates, particularly mothers (Daly & Ferragina, 2018; Ferragina, 2020; Ferragina & Seeleib-Kaiser, 2015). For example, there are two defined family policy typologies that describe institutional differences: the earner-carer model and the primary caregiver model (Fraser, 1994; Misra et al., 2007). The earner-carer model (e.g., Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Iceland) was developed to assist women and men in balancing employment and care by offering generous support for working parents: encouraging both women and men to take parental leave, and widely available high-quality childcare services (Fraser, 1994; Misra et al., 2007; Thévenon, 2011). Subsequently, these countries have the highest women's and mothers’ employment rates across the OECD area (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development [OECD], 2020).

The primary caregiver model was distinguished by explicitly rewarding and valuing women for their caregiving efforts and time: providing generous maternity and/or parental leave as well as part-time employment (Misra et al., 2007; Thévenon, 2011). Consequently, countries in the primary-caregiver model such as Austria, Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands have lower rates of women’s and mother’s employment rates than countries in the earner-carer model (Nordic countries) (OECD, 2020). The impact of Malaysia’s welfare regime on FFWCs remains unknown. Based on these existing findings, it is crucial to examine the impact of welfare regime on FFWC implementation in Malaysia, which may explain the persistence of gender disparities in paid work participation (Department of Statistics Malaysia [DOSM], 2022c).

There are gendered assumptions underlying FFWCs about care for children and men’s and women’s paid and unpaid work, which may partially explain FFWCs ineffectiveness in achieving the goal of equitable participation (Boeckmann et al., 2015; Budig et al., 2012, 2015; Wall & Escobedo, 2013). For example, Sweden, Iceland, Denmark, Slovenia, and Australia implement the gender-neutral concept of ‘parental leave’, with the reinforcement that both women and men (on sharing basis) can take parental leave to stay at home for the majority of their children’s first year of life (Wall & Escobedo, 2013; Workplace Gender Equality Agency [WGEA], 2019). A strong emphasis in FFWCs on parents of all genders (i.e., fathers and mothers) being equally accountable for children’s care has led to higher women’s paid work participation in these countries (OECD, 2020; Wall & Escobedo, 2013). Comparatively, childcare leave (e.g., extended) with low levels of benefits may support and emphasise maternal care of children at home (Budig et al., 2015; Wall & Escobedo, 2013). Extensive leave durations were argued to be associated with traditional breadwinner model, with women combining motherhood and work sequentially rather than concurrently (Pettit & Hook, 2005; Wall & Escobedo, 2013). Accordingly, the activity rates of women without or with children (aged six and below) differ significantly, and maternal employment levels are low in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Estonia and Poland (Wall & Escobedo, 2013).

Existing insights on the interaction between welfare regimes, gender and FFWCs in dominantly Western or Nordic countries are not easily applicable to the Malaysian context. This is because Malaysia's regime does not conform to Western or Nordic welfare state regimes due to the different conceptions of traditional family systems and values, as well as religious and cultural differences in family household compositions (Mohd, 2012; Park & Jung, 2008; Tonelli et al., 2021). Therefore, the interaction between welfare regime, gender and documented FFWCs in Malaysia remains unknown, leaving little opportunity to identify whether FFWCs implementation is enhancing or minimising equitable women’s paid work participation. The following section discussed about the Malaysian context in-depth.

The Malaysian Context

Malaysia is recognised as having a ‘productivist’ welfare regime, where the state subordinates social welfare to economic growth and upholds laissez-faire capitalism (Holliday, 2000; Mohd, 2012; Park & Jung, 2008). Tonelli et al. (2021) recently characterised Malaysia as a moderately ‘productivist’ welfare regime with minimal social protection, where the market is the primary provider of infrastructure for work-family life balance. In Malaysia's 'productivist' welfare regime, the traditional family system is also dominant. The traditional-conservative household/family composition of men, women, and children assigns each strong gender-based role (EPU, 1996; 2001). Malaysian women are discursively positioned as having primary reproductive responsibility, with family and caregiving expected to take precedence over paid work (Aziz, 2011; N. Noor & Mahudin, 2016; Ning & Nwanesi, 2018). The Khazanah Research Institute [KRI] (2019) reported that working women in Malaysia were responsible for most of the unpaid care and domestic work although they work approximately the same amount of time as men.

Furthermore, Malaysia’s policy construction and treatment of the notion of women’s roles, status and functions in policies differs from that of Western and Nordic countries. Gender in policy documents is frequently constructed in binary terms: male/man (father) and female/woman (mother) (EPU, 1996; 2001), making it less likely to undermine traditional family system conceptions and associated gender roles. A clear example is the provision of leave for childcare. In Malaysia, the provision of leave to care for children was referred to as childcare leave and it is strongly associated with gendered norms and conceptualisation of women (EPU, 2001). This inevitably can influence women’s full participation and gender parity within the workforce.

Expectations of women to fulfil family carer roles and associated responsibilities limit employment opportunities and decrease the nation’s maternal employment rate (Ferragina, 2020; Tonelli et al., 2021). Women in Malaysia continue to be far less likely than men to participate in paid work (55.8%; 26.3% with men) although they expressed the desire to work (56.8% out of 1,265 respondents) (DOSM, 2022c; Ministry of Women Family and Community Development & United Nations Development Programme, 2014). In Malaysia, FFWCs include the promotion of staggered work hours and telework/work from home, provision of workplace creches and a statutory requirement for maternity leave (EPU, 2001; 2006; ILO, n.d.). Recently, the Malaysian government has extended maternity leave duration (from 60 to 98 days) and introduced paid paternity leave (seven consecutive days) and flexible work arrangements in the Employment Act (Amendment) 2022 (Department of Labour Peninsular Malaysia, 2023).

Statement of the Research Problem

There is limited knowledge about the interplay between FFWCs, welfare regime and gender in Malaysia. Tonelli et al. (2021) classified 16 East and Southeast Asian countries, including Malaysia into four clusters based on institutional indicators, particularly on child-related policies (i.e., childcare services, leave programmes, and flexible work arrangements) and welfare regime. Nonetheless, Tonelli et al. (2021) convey an artificial sense of coherence because of the nature of the grouping technique used to categorise the included countries, thereby obscuring significant within-cluster variability. To address this issue, this paper focused on Malaysia as a single unit of country analysis given its historical, economic, cultural and institutional distinctiveness and uniqueness from other countries. Additionally, little is known about the interaction between gender, welfare regime when examining the availability of FFWCs documents in Malaysia (Aminah Ahmad, 2007; Omar & Ahmad, 2009; Tonelli et al., 2021). More detailed analyses of specific FFWCs in Malaysia are needed (Aminah Ahmad, 2007; Ferragina, 2020; Omar & Ahmad, 2009; Tonelli et al., 2021) to understand the significance of welfare regime and gender in the FFWCs implementation, which may partially explain the lack of impact of policy initiatives on gender equity in participation rates in Malaysia (Mat Pozian et al., 2022).

There has been a lack of document analysis research on the interaction between gender, welfare regime and FFWCs. Only two studies analysed FFWCs documents in the public sector and private organisations through document analysis (Aminah Ahmad, 2007; Omar & Ahmad, 2009). According to Bryman and Burgess (1994), documents can produce and reproduce particular constructions of reality by manipulating the knowledge’s nature and content and are created by powerful entities within a social, political and economic context. The small number of document analysis research on FFWCs documents could lead to an incomplete understanding of women’s constructions of reality, which potentially be affected by the policymakers. Therefore, it is important to examine FFWCs availability through document analysis as information gaps must be viewed as reflecting and potentially reinforcing societal power relations (Bryman and Burgess, 1994).

Existing studies were also limited by the exclusion of FFWCs documents from international organisations. International organisations' FFWCs documents may have affected women employees differently. Excluding FFWCs documents from international organisations from research on this issue may also perpetuate gender inequality in the workforce. Inclusion of FFWCs documents from international organisations may enhance their visibility and accountability, ensuring their FFWCs implementation minimises gender inequality both in paid and unpaid work participation. Hence, this paper was more inclusive than existing research since it examines 11 specific FFWCs in public, private and international organisations' documentation.

In summary, given the limited knowledge of the interaction between FFWCs, welfare regime and gender in Malaysia, this paper aims to explore which FFWCs have been documented, as well as uncover FFWCs’ interpretation in the context of gender concepts and welfare regime through a feminist lens. Using Frasers’ (2005) conceptual lens (recognition and redistribution of politic of justice) helps analyse political struggles or tensions which devalue women. This paper recognises the influence of the welfare regime on the recognition and redistribution of politics in feminist activism. From this stance, recognition entails addressing inequality by viewing women as a devalued group in need of recognition; and redistribution is eliminating the gender differences and contradictions between men and women (Fraser, 2005).

This original research in the Malaysian context was designed to meet existing needs to better understand the influence of the welfare regime and the gender concept on FFWCs documents. The understanding is to comprehend how the lack of impact of FFWCs in Malaysia might be understood in terms of its positioning within the dichotomised policy movement (Ferragina, 2019; Mat Pozian et al., 2022). This can be achieved by examining which FFWCs have been documented, and how documents related to FFWCs in Malaysia function in achieving women’s equitable paid work participation (Linders, 2007).

Study design

Document analysis was used to explore how FFWCs have been documented, as well as uncover FFWCs interpretation in the context of gender concepts and welfare regime. Frequency of predetermined FFWCs and gender-related terms in the selected documents were counted. Documents were viewed in relation to Malaysian’s society broader socio-economic structure (including ideology) to make sense of the way gender is treated in policy (Sankofa, 2022). Drawing on Mackieson et al. (2018) approach, the researchers developed a codebook for the document analysis (see Supporting Material) including units of analysis, purposes of document analysis and codes for each variable.

Document Selection

Documents were purposively selected to ensure the analysis reflected the main picture of Malaysia’s FFWCs in organisations. Fairclough’s (2003) selection criteria informed the selection to ensure authority, theoretical applicability, credibility, accessibility and timeline of analysed documents (refer Table 1).

Table 1

Definitions of the selection criteria of the samples
Selection Criteria	Definitions
Authority	Data source is supported by relevance, authority and trustworthiness
Accessibility	Data source is publicly available
Theoretical Applicability	Data source is relevant to FFWCs or policies and paid work participation in Malaysia
Credibility	Data source is accurate, credible and convincing
Timeline	Documents are the most recent versions

In meeting authority and accessibility criteria, public documents were obtained from the Public Service Department of Malaysia’s [PSDM] (n.d.) official website, and all publicly available documents from private and international organisations were obtained through the Talent Corporation Malaysia Berhad’s [TalentCorp] (n.d.-b) website. TalentCorp is a Malaysian government agency under the Ministry of Human Resources that is uniquely positioned to shape, influence, and align policies, as well as develop demand-driven initiatives which act as the foundations of Malaysia's talent policies such as FFWCs (TalentCorp, n.d.-a).

Documents from public sector were service circulars relating to guidelines of FFWCs implementation, whereas private and international organisations’ documents were case studies. Documents (i.e., case studies) were drawn from the TalentCorp (n.d.-b) due to accessibility constraints, because broader private organisation's documents were not publicly available, even with formal written requests for access. Fairclough (2003) notes that in such an instance, researchers can draw on case studies to supplement data if it is transparent and trustworthy. Noting the limitation of using case studies (e.g., the content may not fully reflect the official documents), they do provide an insight into which FFWCs have been documented and how gender and women were treated in the documents.

For theoretical applicability, documents were selected that closely related to FFWCs such as those containing flexible work hours, staggered work hours, compressed work hours, work from home, maternity leave, childcare leave, childcare centre and childcare subsidy, as well as paid work participation either separate or together in one document (Fairclough, 2003). Our sample of documents focused on the most recent versions to maintain currency and examine the latest trends of FFWCs documents (between 2013 and 2020).

Analysis

Deductive Quantitative Content Analysis (QCA) was employed to quantify the frequencies of predefined phrases in the documents. Several studies (e.g. Kabanoff & Daly, 2002; McDonald et al., 2005; Solola, 2021) have used similar content analysis methodology to compare organisational documents with organisational practices. QCA assumes that word frequency reflects the importance or cognitive centrality of a concept or construct either to the person who produced the text or to the intended audience. The more frequently a word occurs, the more central or important it is (Kabanoff, 1996). The coding units for analysis were phrases that referred to pre-determined FFWCs (e.g., “flexible work hour(s)”, “flextime”, “staggered work hour(s)”, “staggered hours”, “telecommuting”, “work from home”, “maternity leave”, “compressed work hour(s)”, “childcare leave”, “childcare centre”, “childcare facility”, “childcare subsidy”) and gender-related terms (e.g., “women”, “men”, “parents”, “mothers”, and/or “fathers”). All pre-determined FFWCs and gender-related terms are described in Supplementary Material.

Two trained coders independently coded the information to avoid errors and improve accuracy due to the potential subjectivity of quantitative information provided in the documents. The coders exported the documents to EndNote X9, developed a Microsoft Word data extraction form to organise the data retrieved from each document and prepared data for further analysis. Both coders then went through each document individually, coding and recoding all relevant references to identified categories. Data from all documents were extracted according to the codebook (see Supplementary Material; (Mackieson et al., 2018)). Extracted data comprised three fields: (i) document years, (ii) document purpose(s), including FFWCs, and (iii) policy target: employees (refer Table 2, 3 and 4). Following the completion of the coding, the collected data was examined for patterns in frequency to draw conclusions in response to the research aim. All of the authors met weekly to discuss the inferences and interpretations of findings.

Table 2

Summary of Included Documents from The Malaysian Government (Public Sector)
Document Years	Document Purpose(s), including FFWCs	Policy target: Employee
2013	Childcare Subsidies Informing the household monthly income eligibility amendment (from RM3,000 to RM5,000) for the childcare daycare fees subsidies provision.	Employees (Unspecified)
2014	Unpaid Childcare Leave (UPCL) Notifying the improved UPCL implementation: the flexibility in using unpaid childcare leave (when and how) to achieve a better balance of family life and career. The leave is allocated for caring and breastfeeding babies.	Women
2017	Paid Maternity Leave (PML) Informing the increment of fully PML duration from 300 to 360 days throughout the service period. The increased duration is to ensure well-being of women employees.	Women
2017	Staggered Work Hours (SWH) Informing the improved SWH implementation: adding a set of SWH: 9.00am – 6.00pm. The additional set of SWH is in accordance with the Public Service transformation and continuous improvement efforts to improve the public service delivery system, while also providing flexibility in SWH.	Unspecified
2019	Flexible Work Hours (FWH) Notifying the FWH implementation in place of SWH to improve the existing work arrangements from a rigid to a flexible work environment.	Employees who previously worked on a staggered schedule
2020	Work from Home (WFH) Informing the WFH implementation to improve the public service delivery system and the need to balance the needs of duties and the well-being of officers.	Unspecified

Table 3

Summary of Included Private Organisations’ Documents
Document Year	Document Purpose(s), including FFWCs	Policy target: Employee
2016	Staggered Work Hours (SWH) Allowing working mothers with school-going children to choose preferred working hours without comprising productivity at work due to other obligations.	Eligibility criteria: • All working parents/guardians with school-going children. • A minimum of 2 years of service. • Have an effective performance track record. • Nature of work must support the SWH
2016	Childcare facility within proximity to the office to provide: • A safe environment for employee’s children that promotes learning and creativity. • Parents’ peace of mind that their children are being cared for, which the company believed may generate greater productivity and decreased absenteeism.	Parents
2016	Krista Childcare Centre Supporting working parents manage work and family obligations and encourage increased parent-child bonding.	Parents with children aged 4 years and below, with exceptions of babies (case-to-case basis)
2016	Staff Rejuvenation Programme Allowing employees to take one to six months leave (unpaid) to rejuvenate without affecting their seniority or job security.	All employees
2016	Champs Fostering employee unity, inclusion, and heightened awareness and energy
	The initiatives were:
	• Additional fully paid half-day (30 days) maternity leave.	Employees (Unspecified)
	• Allocated car park facilities located nearer the office.	Mothers-to-be during pregnancy.
	• Pregnancy check-up flexi-work arrangement: allowed returning to work after doctor’s appointments rather than taking a full day off.	Expecting employees
	• Childcare centre/Preschool: allowed parents to work at ease.	Parents
2016	Women/Family-Friendly Initiative • Providing flexibility to meet family needs and personal obligations conveniently. • Strengthening organisation’s image as an Employer of Choice. • Increasing employee engagement and commitment. The initiatives were: • Designated Parking Bays • A comfortable and convenient nursing room to continue caring for newborns. • School Holiday Work Arrangement: an opportunity for parents to SWH during school holiday. • SWH: supporting mothers in coping with the new routine at home following the arrival of an additional family member	All expecting mothers in third trimester with doctor’s certification. Mothers Employees with school-going children (12 years and below). Working mothers with children (2 years and below).
2016	Childcare Centre Supporting working parents, especially women, navigate the challenges of balancing work and family priorities.	Unspecified
2016	Flexible Work Arrangements to: • Help employees in achieving work life integration while producing exceptional performance and work quality. • Empower employees to manage and optimise working hours without affecting their business and personal commitments. • Retain women in the workforce. The initiatives were: • SWH. • Flextime. • Telecommuting/Flexible Work Location. • Reduced Hours/Converting to Part-Time Employment.	Employees (Unspecified)
2016	Childcare Centre to: • Temporarily assist parents who do not have a care provider at home to supervise their children and provide support with their learning. • Serves as a retention strategy.	Women are prioritised, but both men and women with young children used the facility.
2016	Women’s Talent Project to: • Attract and retain women while strengthening company’s brand as an Employer of Choice. • Increase employee engagement, motivation, and commitment while balancing work and family commitments. The initiatives were: • High quality and affordable childcare. • Mother’s Room: assist mothers who wish to continue breastfeeding after returning from maternity leave. • Designated Car Parking Space for Pregnant Mothers • Improved maternity leave: additional 30 days • Flexible Work Arrangements - Flextime: allows mothers to balance work and family commitments. - WFH • Women’s Networking Event: Mother’s Day Special - to honour all mothers for their sacrifices.	Women
		Employees (Unspecified)
		Mothers
		Pregnant women in third trimester
		Expectant mothers: - Confirmed female employees with minimum one-year service. - Female employees with good performance track record.
		Working mother: - Confirmed with minimum one-year service and good performance track record. - Working mothers employed under contract basis, part-time basis, and/or shift works are not eligible. Women
2016	Childcare centre to: • Provide better ways for their employees achieving work-life integration. • Ease the burden on parents.	Parents; Women
2016	Childcare centre within proximity of work to: • Maximise productivity by minimising the burden on parents. • Reduce commuting time to work. • Provide quality and affordable childcare services. • Achieve a goal of 30% women participation on Boards. • Improve employee morale. Reduce female workforce turnover while attracting a wider variety of applicants. • Become known as the Employer of Choice.	Employees with children aged 12 years and below (3 months)

Table 4

Summary of Included International Organisations’ Documents
Document Year	Document Purpose(s), including FFWCs	Policy target: Employee
2016	Empowering Women – Women’s Programmes & Initiatives • Network: help women in defining their success visions. • Employee Resource Groups: support women (locally) to build strong networks both within organisations and in the broader community. • Defining Success Forums: provide opportunity to hear leaders share their personal approaches to career management.	All women employees
	• Mentoring	Female Executives
	• Developing High Performing Women - Emphasises advancement to leadership roles. - Evaluate their aspirations and plan the next steps in their careers.	Top-performing Managers
	• Women and Client Centricity: provide information, practice opportunity and information to female leaders for them to become more client-centric leaders and effective managers.	Women Leaders
	• Women and Negotiation focuses on developing strategies to assist women in maximising their effectiveness in negotiation interactions.	Women
	• Women in Leadership: provide new women leaders with skills and behaviours needed to success in their careers.	Women Leaders
	Other Intitiaves Globally • Flexible Work Arrangements: to balance work and personal life - Flexitime - Part-time - Telecommuting/WFH - Compressed work week - Job sharing - Unpaid leave of absence • Fly-Backs • FlexLeave – partially paid for employees to pursue their interests. • Backup Dependent Care • Bring your Child to Work Program	Employees (Unspecified)
	• Nursing Mother’s Programme	New Moms
	• Maternity leave • Maternity Returners Programme: to ease transition back into workforce. • International Woman’s Day Celebration	Employees (Unspecified)
	• Training	Hiring managers, top management and high performing women
	• Mentoring: to support women advancement. • Recruitment Initiative	Women
	• Networking: to support women and parents at work	Employees (Unspecified)
	Other Initiatives in Malaysia • Flexible Work Arrangements: to help employees in achieving work-life effectiveness by enabling flexibility in their work arrangements. - Flextime - Telecommuting - Part-time/Job Sharing - Ad-hoc Flexibility	All full-time employees
2016	Flexible Work Arrangements: to help employees in managing commitments and personal life. - Flexible Work Schedules: to enable employees to maximise their productivity. - WFH	Unspecified
	Other Initiatives • Mother’s Room: support new moms returning to work and their babies’ nursing needs. • Mother’s Club: provide a support group for mothers to share ideas and resources. • Dedicated Parking Lots	New Mothers Mothers Mothers-to-be
	• Weekly Whole-Day Visit by a Female Doctor: to raise employees’ awareness of health issues and provide employees assistance with any medical support. • Childcare Assistance • Maternity Benefits: maternity leave and allowance	Employees (Unspecified)
2016	Flexi Hours, WFH and Job-Sharing Pilot to: - Provide workplace flexibility while balancing the need to meet business requirements and ensuring minimal impact on operations. - Attract, retain, and promote employee motivation and accountability. The initiatives were: • Flexi-Work Hours • WFH • Job Sharing: to attract talent particularly women who needed flexibility to obtain work-life integration.	All permanent and confirmed employees
2016	Flexible Work Arrangements • SWH: to promote work-life integration and allow working mothers flexibility in managing personal and professional needs.	Executive employees and higher position(s)
	• Priority Parking Lots	All pregnant employees
	• Lactation Room	Nursing Mothers
	• WFH (due to family issues, on a case-to-case basis)	Employees (Unspecified)
2016	Flexible Work Arrangements: to strengthen employee engagement and motivation as well as enhance talent attraction and retention. The initiatives were: • FWH: balance between work requirement and personal commitments. • WFH • Time-Off: to allow him/her to attend personal commitments. • Accumulated Leave for Travelling: to promote a stronger work-life balance. • 39 Hours Work Week: to encourage and promote work-life balance	Employees (Unspecified)
2016	• Nursing Rooms	Working mothers with babies
2016	Care Centre • Childcare facility to: - Create a family-friendly work environment. - Support employees in achieving a healthy work-life balance. - Become Employer of Choice. - Encourage employee retention and engagement. - Improve workforce’s efficiency and effectiveness.	Parents
	Other Initiatives Globally • Flexible Work Arrangements: to enable employees and managers to consider alternative ways on how, where, and when work can be accomplished. - Flextime. - Remote Work. - Compressed Work Week. - Job Sharing - Part-time Work. - Leave of Absence	Employees (Unspecified)
	• Women Leading: to foster high performing senior women. • Women’s Leadership Development: to help talented female employees in better managing career development and mobility.	Women
	In Australia • Trumpets Childcare Centre: to meet children and families’ needs.	Employees (Unspecified)
	In Malaysia • Extended Maternity Leave – Additional 30 days	Employees (Unspecified)
	In United States of America • Childcare • Just in Time Care Programme	Working parents Employees
2016	Connected Workplace: to attract and retain top global talents. • Remote • Mobile • Flextime	Eligible Employees
2016	• Designated car park • Mother’s Room	Expectant Mothers New Mothers
2016	Flexible Work Arrangements, Family Friendly Facilities and Work-Life Benefits to: • Increase female workforce representation. • Maintain a healthy representation of women in the senior management level
	The initiatives were:
	• Extended maternity leave • Paternity leave • Family carer’s leave • Examination leave	Women employees Male employees All employees in a department All employees
	• Flexible Work Arrangements • Flexi hours • Part-time or temporary positions	Employees (Unspecified)
	• Mother’s Room • Designated parking	Mothers Expectant mothers
2016	Women’s Network • To foster professional women development to attract, grow and retain female talent
	Other Initiatives Globally • Flexible Work Arrangements: to encourage employees to meet their work commitments while balancing their life. • Telecommuting • Part-time	Eligible employees
	In Canada • Flexible Childcare Option: to provide employees with reliable, high quality full-time and part-time flexible child and elder care
	In India • RESTART: to assist women returning working from their career break • Reserved car park • Mother-to-be relaxation and lactation rooms	Women Expecting mothers Mothers-to-be and new mothers
	In Malaysia • Extended maternity leave • Lactation Room • Designated Car Park	Employees (Unspecified) New Mothers Soon-to-be mothers
	• Flexible Work Arrangements • Flex-time/hour • Telecommuting • Part-time work	Employees (Unspecified)
2016	Work-Life Integration Programme: to help employees effectively manage work and family responsibilities. The Initiatives were:
	• Flexi-Hours: to juggle between personal needs and work commitment. • A reduced schedule for a variety of personal need: to balance work and life demands • WFH • Part-time Programme • Job-Rotation • Leave of Absence • Childcare centre	Employees (Unspecified)
	• Building Relationships and Influencing	High potential women leaders
	• Technical Women’s Pipeline Programme • Taking the Stage • Succeeding on the Stage	Women
2016	Women Network: to attract, recruit, integrate develop and retain female talents in the workforce.
	• Career Development: to achieve women’s full potential in their careers. - WIN Conference - Women Leadership Exchange - Technical Career Talks & Technical Leadership: to help the pool of employees to main their winning edge	Women but is open to male employees.
	• Well-Being: to support women employees in their personal life - International Women’s Day Celebration - Health and Well Talks - Health for Life	Female employees Employees (Unspecified)
	• Community: to support the community and build a pipeline of future women talent. - Involved Matching Grant Programme: to encourage employees to engage in volunteer programmes and community services. - Get SETT: to empower students, particularly female, with essential knowledge and skills in cyber area. - Linkages to NGOs at events.
	Other Initiatives in Malaysia • Flexible Work Arrangements - Alternate start time - Flex-time: to allow employees to create temporary work schedules that better meet their personal needs while meeting work responsibilities. - No meeting on Friday afternoons: to allow employees finish the week and have a peaceful weekend. - Connection from home & broadband reimbursement. - Telecommute: to achieve work-life balance. - Part-time employment: to achieve a better balance between personal goals, family responsibilities and job requirements. - Family access: to bring family members to work when needed. - Prolonged leave of absence.	Employees (Unspecified)
	- Global Women’s Initiative Portal. - Manufacturing Technical Women’s League.	Women
2016	Flexible Work Arrangements: to help employees manage their stress, energy and time. • Equipment for working from home. • Weekly Whole-Day Visit by a Female Doctor: to raise employees’ health issues awareness. • Childcare Assistance • Maternity Benefits	Employees (Unspecified)
2016	• Mother’s Room: to support new moms returning to work and their babies’ nursing needs. • Mother’s Club: to allow working mothers to network, gain support and share ideas and resources. • Dedicated Parking Lots	New Mothers Working Mothers Mothers-to-be
2016	Flexi Hours and Part-Time Work: to maintain a healthy balance between work and personal life. • Flexi Time - Flexi Hours - Reduced/Part-Time Working • Flexi Arrangement - Unpaid leave - Career Break	All confirmed and full-time employment employees
2016	Women Programme: to meet the needs of female employees balancing family and work commitments. • Work from Home	Expecting and new mothers with nature of work that allowed work from home
2016	Work-Life Plus Programme: to maintain a healthy balance between work and personal life. • Flexible Work Arrangements • Time Out • Career Break	Employees (Unspecified)
	Other Initiatives Globally • Teaming Culture • Reduced Hours • Flextime • @Home • Offsite • Job-Sharing • Compressed Work Week • Sabbatical Leave • Work-Life Resources and Referral	Employees (Unspecified)
	• Unprescribed Sick Leave: to assist employees in maintain work-life quality	The United State full-time and part-time employees
	Other Initiatives in Malaysia • Parents Network • PayFlex • Moms’ Room: to support mothers who choose to breastfeed their babies. • Designated Parking • Pre-natal Subsidy • Extended Maternity Leave	Mothers, Mothers-to-be and Fathers. Mothers Pregnant Women Employees (Unspecified) Employees (Unspecified)
2016	Flexible Work Arrangements, Family Friendly Facilities and Work Life Benefits • Career Break – no pay leave • Flexible Working Hours • Part Time Work: to effectively manage their work delivery while managing personal work-life balance; and to provide opportunities for employees who are unable to work full- time. • Working beyond retirement age • Working outside office: to balance their work-life needs. • Half Pay Leave: to fulfil personal and/or family obligations. • Leave Bank • Unpaid Leave • Extended maternity leave (half pay)	Employees (Unspecified)
2016	• Designated car park for pregnant women • Mother’s Room • Childcare support subsidy: to assist employees to care for their children while working.	Pregnant women and those with medical condition Mothers Employees with young children
2016	WFH: to encourage and promote a sense of greater work life balance and improve employee engagement and retention.	Eligible Employees
2016	Flexi Hours and WFH businesses and individuals.	Employees (Unspecified)

Characteristics of Selected Documents

Data collection yielded 36 documents published between 2013 and 2020 from the public sector (n = 6) (PSDM, 2013; 2014, 2017a, 2017b, 2019, 2020), private organisations (n = 12), and international organisations (n = 18). All documents from private and international organisations were unpublished and included in the reference. Documents from international organisations were more readily available than documents from private (domestic) organisations, which could be linked to the globalisation of FFWCs implementation and commercial in confidence dimensions.

Frequencies of Family-Friendly Work Conditions

Findings for identified FFWCs frequencies were reported according to public, private and international organisations documents. The implications of the identified FFWCs were reported at the end of subheading.

Public Sector Documents

The most commonly mentioned FFWCs found in the six public sector documents was staggered work hours (n = 107), followed by paid maternity leave (n = 105) and unpaid childcare leave (n = 82) (see Table 5). Compressed work hours, other childcare leave (paid and unspecified) and childcare centre provisions were not discovered in the documents. While staggered work hours were the most common FFWCs found in public sector documents, compressed work hours were notably absent. This may be due to the Malaysian government’s perception of staggered work hours as having a relative suitability for improving the public service delivery system productivity. In the Service Circular Number 4 of 2017: Staggered Work Hours Improvement document, the Malaysian government notes that “In accordance with the transformation of the Public Service and continuous improvement efforts to improve the service delivery system to the public, as well as providing flexibility in staggered work hours” (PSDM, 2017a, p. 2). This demonstrates that staggered work hours were perceived and treated as a policy for economic growth rather than social policy for individual benefits, consistent studies (Holliday, 2000; Mohd, 2012; Park & Jung, 2008) that described Malaysia has a productivist welfare regime. The high prevalence of identified unpaid childcare leave and absence of paid childcare leave and childcare centre provision in the documents may be owing to the country’s welfare regime, in which these services have not traditionally been provided by the state, and women have traditionally been responsible for childcare (EPU, 1996; 2001).

Private Organisations Documents

The most frequently documented FFWCs identified in 12 documents from the private sector was childcare centres (n = 150), followed by flexible work arrangements (n = 21) and unspecified maternity leave (n = 14) as well as staggered work hours (n = 14). Compressed work hours, unpaid maternity leave, and childcare leave (paid and unpaid) were not identified in the documents (see Table 5). It was not surprising that childcare centre provision was most commonly identified in private organisations’ documents compared to public documents, as the market assumes responsibilities in providing and implementing policy (i.e., childcare centres) that allow women, especially mothers, to work and this social policy is not the main priority of the state (Wiß, 2017). This finding is also consistent with Tonelli et al.’s (2021) finding that the market is the main provider of infrastructure for work-family life balance in Malaysia.

International Organisations Documents

Across international organisations’ documents, the most frequent FFWCs identified was work from home (n = 71), followed by flexible work hours (n = 45), as well as flexible work arrangements (n = 45) and paid maternity leave (n = 18) (see Table 5). The most frequent mentions of work from home and flexible work hours displays how international policy have started to be implemented within a Malaysian context. In contrast, there were no identified documents on childcare leave (paid, unpaid and unspecified) which may suggest that the Malaysian cultural expectation of traditional family norms still has significant influence even when implementing workforce participation policies based on global or Western policy.

Implications of the Identified Family-Friendly Work Conditions

Childcare leave (paid, unpaid and unspecified) was absent from private and international organisations’ documents, whereas high visibility of unpaid childcare leave only for women was identified in public documents. This points to a narrower conception of gender about women’s participation in the FFWCs documents that conform with the cultural norms associated with the Malaysian welfare regime (EPU, 1996; 2001; Mohd, 2012; Ning & Nwanesi, 2018). Consequently, gender inequalities in paid work participation exacerbates and enhances the embedded traditional gender roles. The DOSM (2020) reported that women in Malaysia account for 68.3% of the population who were not in the labour force, due to childcare issues such as lack of childcare supports and prevailing expectations on women to fulfil their primary caregiver responsibilities (Aziz, 2011; Noor & Mahudin, 2016).

The absence of a specific policy, particularly for caring (children) found in the study is significant given that it can reify the unequal divisions in both paid and unpaid work (childrearing, eldercare, and household responsibilities) (Boeckmann et al., 2015; Misra et al., 2007). Unequal divisions in paid and unpaid work further entrench traditional gender roles while enriching gender inequalities in paid and unpaid work participation. In the Malaysian context, women are expected to be the primary caregiver fulfilling household duties and spend 63.6% more time on average for unpaid care work than men, even when women work the same number of hours as men (KRI, 2019).

Frequencies of Terms Associated with Gender

Public Sector Documents

In terms of the gender concept, reference was made to ‘women’ as the main category in the public documents (see Table 6). Most usage of ‘women’ was found in relation to maternity leave and unpaid childcare leave in these public documents. This finding potentially demonstrates a policy tension between the nature of the welfare state regime and tendency to maintain traditional constructions of family systems. Although the Malaysian government policy intent is to encourage women's participation in paid work, it contradictorily functions to maintain traditional structures, roles and norms such as the traditional family constructs, seen in the accentuated use of terminology about ‘women’ and the specification of unpaid childcare leave and maternity leave policy documents for women only.

Private and International Organisations Documents

The phrase ‘parents’ (n = 55) was the most often word detected in the private organisations’ documents, followed by ‘women’ (n = 51) and ‘mothers’ (n = 45). Private organisations' documents emphasised more shared caring responsibilities without specifying parental gender roles, as evidenced by the higher use of the 'parents' terminology in their documentation than in government-led policies, which use more gender specific terms such as ‘women’. On the other hand, in the international organisations’ documents, ‘women’ (n = 156), ‘moms’ (n = 42), and ‘females’ (n = 38) featured strongly and were the most often identified terms associated with gender (see Table 6). This finding shows that these terms were overrepresented in the international organisations’ documents, diminishing the redistribution of politics of justice. Overrepresentation of gendered terminology favouring ‘women’ as intended recipients emphasises gender differences between men and women, particularly in caring responsibilities and participation in paid work.

This paper sought to explore which FFWCs has been documented, as well as uncover FFWCs’ interpretation in the context of gender concepts and welfare regime in Malaysia. The findings uniquely contribute to the gender literature gap by highlighting the impact of gendered assumptions underlying FFWCs in Malaysia: despite increased female visibility in FFWCs documents and the intention of FFWCs implementation to encourage women's paid work participation, it contradictorily functions to maintain traditional structures, roles, and norms, such as women as primary carers. Further, this paper adds to the welfare regime literature from the Malaysian context by demonstrating that FFWCs documents in Malaysia were influenced by its ‘productivist’ welfare regime: FFWCs were treated as a policy for economic growth rather than social policy for individual benefits, and market main responsibility is implementing FFWCs that allow women, especially mothers, to work. This paper also uniquely aids to both gender and welfare regime literature on FFWCs from the Malaysian perspectives by incorporating both private and international organisations.

Our analyses revealed differences in the most identified FFWCs between public sector (unpaid childcare leave), private (childcare centre) and international (work from home) organisations documents, implying that caring responsibility is not state’s primary policy priority. These findings consistent with previous research (Mohd, 2012; Park & Jung, 2008; Tonelli et al., 2021), revealing that the Malaysian government (public) bears only a minimal responsibility for social protection and supports laissez-faire capitalism. Further, the findings indicate that the market (private and international organisations) is the primary provider of infrastructure for work-family life balance, consistent with previous research (Mohd, 2012; Tonelli et al., 2021). Considering the family policy expansion categories, these findings place Malaysia in the first movement, where it appears that the Malaysian government uses FFWCs to increase women’s (notably mothers’) paid work participation with low wages in a serviced-based economy and as additional tool for promoting neoliberalism capitalism (Alonso et al., 2019; Ferragina, 2019; Heenan, 2021; Venugopal, 2015). This can be seen where women in Malaysia are over-represented in a narrow range of lower-wage occupations and more likely than men to work informally in the informal sector (9.8% in 2021; 1.9% more than men) (DOSM, 2013; DOSM, 2022a; 2022b).

The traditional conservative regime in Malaysia was more visible in public documents than in private and international organisation documents, as evidenced by the lack of gender-neutral language and the increased visibility of gender specific terminology (women). For instance, the terms unpaid childcare leave, where the leave only available for women, were found to be prevalent in public documents yet absent in the private and international organisations documents. This could be an example of the way terminology and frequency of use functions to conform to traditional gender ideology associated with Malaysia’s welfare regime (Mohd, 2012; Tonelli et al., 2021). These findings were consistent with existing research (Boeckmann et al., 2015; Budig et al., 2012, 2015; Wall & Escobedo, 2013), which demonstrated that there are hidden gendered assumptions underlying FFWCs on the care of children. Comparatively, there tends to be more inclusive terms used within Western policy documents, notably in the representation of a shared approach to care roles and responsibilities between men and women, and in use of the term, parental leave (Wall & Escobedo, 2013; WGEA, 2019). The increased visibility of women in FFWCs documents while emphasising caring responsibilities as their main responsibilities, strengthens traditional ideologies, beliefs and attitudes within society and culture (Pettit & Hook, 2005; Wall & Escobedo, 2013). As Chen et al. (2022) details “there are aspects of culture which are convenient for the male to use… to stop… female emancipation” (p.39).

Gender inequity was observed in the distribution, frequency and intent of terminology, that is, the use of terms: ‘women’, ‘mothers’ and ‘females’ across FFWCs documents. The frequent use of the terms may enhance women’s recognition by addressing inequality in paid work participation by emphasising the FFWCs implementation for women. This finding aligned with Fraser’s (2005) recognition of the politic of justice: addressing inequality by viewing women as a devalued group in need of recognition. However, emphasising the use of these terms can over-emphasise gender differences between men and women, as evidenced in the lack of gender inclusivity terminology used in the public as well as private and international documents (where ‘males’, ‘men’ and ‘fathers’ were less identified). The absence of gender inclusive terminology can further reinforced gender divisions and gender disparities in pay and paid work participation in Malaysia (DOSM, 2022b; KRI, 2019). Similar insights are offered by Fraser (2005) who recognised from a critical feminist lens the need for greater emphasis by governments on redistribution of the politics and gender dimensions to redress group divisions between men and women. To achieve gender parity, Malaysian FFWCs documents need to be constructed and revised to account for the influence of traditional gender role ideology, as well as reframing women's and gender narratives, for gender inclusivity through the use of gender-neutral language.

While the Malaysian government together with the private and international organisations have apparently sought to modernise policy associated with FFWCs, there continues to be a reliance on maintaining the existing dominant traditional conservative regime, indicated by the over-reliance of constructs and terminology specific to conceptions of women and the treatment of gender (notably stringent binaries and associated gender roles and divisions) in all Malaysian documents. Over-emphasising the intention of the FFWCs implementation to assist women in balancing family and work responsibilities only further reinforces the social divisions between women and men and social/household relations/duties through the reported separation of responsibilities (caring and working) (Fraser, 2005). The treatment of women in these policies further perpetuates gender inequalities, while maintaining the status quo. In Malaysia, female public employees who take childcare leave may face barriers to career advancement, such as loss of senior position and professional status ((PSDM, 2014). This is similar to the experience in Ireland whereby academics and researchers experienced detrimental impacts on their promotion/progression prospects when maternity leave (i.e. lack of career advancement) (Maxwell et al., 2019). Further to this experience, women who take longer leave experienced negative effect on wages (Hegewisch & Gornick, 2011).

This is the first synthesis of the FFWCs interpretation in the context of gender concepts and welfare regime in Malaysia through document analysis and a feminist lens. Overall, this paper has uncovered the use of gender-specific terminology as well as the gendered assumptions underlying FFWCs particularly on the care of children in the documents. It has also revealed the interaction with traditional cultural norms associated with the family system, which tended to perpetuate gendered social divisions and reinforce traditional family values. Additional insights, such as contextual data on whether gendered terminology influences women's perceived access to and differential career impact of using FFWCs, are needed to further extend and understand the hidden assumptions that this study has identified. Lastly, the findings broaden the knowledge the role of other non-domestic determinants in Malaysia (the market: private and international organisations) in providing FFWCs, as well as suggest interpretation of FFWCs in the context of gender concept and welfare regime.

The availability of FFWCs differed across sectors and organisations. This paper demonstrates how public, private, and international organisations are implementing FFWCs to encourage and support women to participate in paid work, while simultaneously balancing traditional family system constructions, resulting in a policy response that is constrained. Terminology and frequency of usage of terms can produce, reproduce and reinforce inequities; can cause conflict and tensions which prevent gender initiatives being implemented or put into practice; and construct conflicting paradigms and aims. The power of reinforcing traditional norms and maintaining gendered division was more visible in public documents than in private or international organisation documents, as evidenced by the higher use of gender specific language and lack of gender-neutral language. Findings of this paper point out the need for greater attention to the interactions between FFWCs, traditional gender role concepts and welfare regimes since the redistribution of politic of justice remain unclear. Policy construction and revision accounting for the influence of traditional gender role ideology, reframing women's narratives and gender construction, and gender inclusivity through the use of gender-neutral language, are required to achieve gender parity both in paid work participation and unpaid work.

Table 5

Frequencies of Family-Friendly Work Conditions
Work Conditions	Frequency
Work Conditions	Public Sector	Private Sector	International Organisations
			Globally, includes Malaysia
Flexible Work Hours	34	7	45
Staggered Work Hours	107	14	8
Compressed Work Hours	-	-	3
Work from Home	81	10	71
Flexible Work Arrangements	-	21	45
Maternity Leave (Unspecified)	-	14	12
Maternity Leave (Paid)	105	3	18
Maternity Leave (Unpaid)	12	-	1
Childcare Leave	-	1	-
Childcare Leave (Paid)	-	-	-
Childcare Leave (Unpaid)	82	-	-
Childcare Centre	-	150	12
Childcare Subsidy	12	7	4

Table 6

Frequencies of Terms Associated with Gender
Work Conditions	Frequency
Work Conditions	Public Sector	Private Sector	International Organisations
Women	11	51	156
Females	-	2	38
Gender	-	4	16
Males	-	1	14
Men	-	2	1
Parents	-	55	19
Mothers	-	45	42
Fathers	-	-	1

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Family-Friendly Work Conditions (FFWCs), Gender Concept and Welfare Regime in Malaysia: a document analysis

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Abstract

Introduction

The Malaysian Context

Statement of the Research Problem

Methods

Study design

Document Selection

Analysis

Results

Characteristics of Selected Documents

Frequencies of Family-Friendly Work Conditions

Frequencies of Terms Associated with Gender

Discussion

CONCLUSION

References

Additional Declarations

Supplementary Files

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