Rap Publication Fact Sheet Malaysia Rural Women in the Malaysian Economy Table of Contents

CONTENTS

Rural Women in the Malaysian Economy

Key Facts

• The population of Malaysia is 49 percent female
• The population growth rate will reach 1.66 percent by 2005
• 59 percent of the population lives in urban areas
• The total incidence of poverty is 7.5 percent, but it is 12.4 percent in rural areas
• Female participation in education is higher than that of males and female participation increases in the tertiary level
• 83 percent of women are literate
• Women are 30 percent of the labour force but 41 percent of the employees in manufacturing
• Migration of rural men to urban centres has given women greater responsibility for rural production
• Rural women workers have been displaced by mechanisation and must learn new skills
• More than half of women agricultural labourers work in fruit and vegetable crops
• Use of pesticides is a health threat to women who work in field crops

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