{"title":"Availability and utilisation of family-friendly work conditions for women in Malaysia: a review","authors":"Nadirah Mat Pozian, Yvette D. Miller, Jenni Mays","doi":"10.1108/ijse-02-2024-0103","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<h3>Purpose</h3>\n<p>Evidence for the availability and utilisation of family-friendly work conditions (FFWCs) in Malaysia has not been comprehensively reviewed. Whether persistent inequities are due to poor employer provision of work conditions or low employee uptake remains unknown. This scoping review to assess the scope of available evidence for availability and utilisation of specific FFWCs among women in Malaysia, and synthesise reported findings.</p><!--/ Abstract__block -->\n<h3>Design/methodology/approach</h3>\n<p>This scoping review used Arksey and O’Malley’s framework and twenty-two articles were reviewed.</p><!--/ Abstract__block -->\n<h3>Findings</h3>\n<p>Flexible work hours, telecommuting/work from home, staggered work hours, childcare centres proximal to workplaces, and childcare subsidies were reported as most commonly available work conditions. Available leave varied across organisations and sectors in provision of payment and duration. Flexible work hours, leave, and childcare centres proximal to workplaces were the conditions most used by employees. However, the validity of observed availability and utilisation of work conditions in Malaysia is questionable, due to inconsistencies in the specificity and range of work conditions assessed and heterogeneity of samples.</p><!--/ Abstract__block -->\n<h3>Practical implications</h3>\n<p>National monitoring of the accessibility and uptake of FFWCs is required to guide investment decisions about family-friendly policy initiatives to effectively advance gender equity in the Malaysian labour force.</p><!--/ Abstract__block -->\n<h3>Originality/value</h3>\n<p>This scoping review provides the first comprehensive synthesis and summary of the availability and utilisation of FFWCs in Malaysia.</p><!--/ Abstract__block -->\n<h3>Peer review</h3>\n<p>The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-02-2024-0103</p><!--/ Abstract__block -->","PeriodicalId":47714,"journal":{"name":"INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SOCIAL ECONOMICS","volume":"10 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.9000,"publicationDate":"2024-08-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SOCIAL ECONOMICS","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1108/ijse-02-2024-0103","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"ECONOMICS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Purpose
Evidence for the availability and utilisation of family-friendly work conditions (FFWCs) in Malaysia has not been comprehensively reviewed. Whether persistent inequities are due to poor employer provision of work conditions or low employee uptake remains unknown. This scoping review to assess the scope of available evidence for availability and utilisation of specific FFWCs among women in Malaysia, and synthesise reported findings.
Design/methodology/approach
This scoping review used Arksey and O’Malley’s framework and twenty-two articles were reviewed.
Findings
Flexible work hours, telecommuting/work from home, staggered work hours, childcare centres proximal to workplaces, and childcare subsidies were reported as most commonly available work conditions. Available leave varied across organisations and sectors in provision of payment and duration. Flexible work hours, leave, and childcare centres proximal to workplaces were the conditions most used by employees. However, the validity of observed availability and utilisation of work conditions in Malaysia is questionable, due to inconsistencies in the specificity and range of work conditions assessed and heterogeneity of samples.
Practical implications
National monitoring of the accessibility and uptake of FFWCs is required to guide investment decisions about family-friendly policy initiatives to effectively advance gender equity in the Malaysian labour force.
Originality/value
This scoping review provides the first comprehensive synthesis and summary of the availability and utilisation of FFWCs in Malaysia.
Peer review
The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-02-2024-0103
期刊介绍:
The International Journal of Social Economics publishes original and peer-reviewed theoretical and empirical research in the field of social economics. Its focus is on the examination and analysis of the interaction between economic activity, individuals and communities. Social economics focuses on the relationship between social action and economies, and examines how social and ethical norms influence the behaviour of economic agents. It is inescapably normative and focuses on needs, rather than wants or preferences, and considers the wellbeing of individuals in communities: it accepts the possibility of a common good rather than conceiving of communities as merely aggregates of individual preferences and the problems of economics as coordinating those preferences. Therefore, contributions are invited which analyse and discuss well-being, welfare, the nature of the good society, governance and social policy, social and economic justice, social and individual economic motivation, and the associated normative and ethical implications of these as they express themselves in, for example, issues concerning the environment, labour and work, education, the role of families and women, inequality and poverty, health and human development.