Women’s Economic Empowerment in Malaysia’s Entrepreneurial Sector: Analysis of Economic Participation, Education, Health, and Political Empowerment using the Malaysia Gender Gap Index

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6239-715-6_38How to use a DOI?

Keywords

economic; educational; health and survival; political; gender equality; female entrepreneurship

Abstract

Women’s economic empowerment is a key driver of Malaysia’s socio-economic growth, particularly in the entrepreneurial sector, which plays a vital role in fostering innovation, job creation, and inclusive development. Despite significant progress in education and health, as highlighted by the Malaysia Gender Gap Index (MGGI) 2023, women continue to face persistent barriers in economic participation (0.698) and political empowerment (0.096), which limit their entrepreneurial potential. This imbalance presents a critical challenge for achieving Malaysia’s goal of full gender equality and leveraging women’s contributions to economic growth. The objectives of this concept paper are to examine the influence of economic participation and opportunity on women’s entrepreneurial empowerment, evaluate the role of educational attainment and health in sustaining business activities, and explore the impact of political empowerment on enabling a supportive entrepreneurial environment. This study uses the secondary data from the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM), Malaysia Gender Gap Index (MGGI), Global Gender Gap Index (GGGI), and relevant academic literature. Findings indicate that greater economic opportunities, access to education, health security, and political representation are essential drivers of women’s entrepreneurial success and financial independence. However, structural barriers such as limited access to financing, weaker business networks, and underrepresentation in leadership persist, hindering the full realization of women’s economic potential. This paper concludes that the strategies, targeted policy interventions, and institutional support are necessary to strengthen women’s participation in the entrepreneurial sector. Future research will conduct empirical data analysis to validate these relationships and guide inclusive policy development.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Nora Ibrahim
AU  - Nur Hidayah Zulkefli
AU  - Nabila Elyana Tasrip
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/06/20
TI  - Women’s Economic Empowerment in Malaysia’s Entrepreneurial Sector: Analysis of Economic Participation, Education, Health, and Political Empowerment using the Malaysia Gender Gap Index
BT  - Proceedings of the International Conference on Cross- Disciplinary Academic Research 2025 - Track 2 Advances in Business & Economics, Social Science, Communications & Media (ICAR-T2 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 510
EP  - 520
SN  - 2352-5428
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6239-715-6_38
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6239-715-6_38
ID  - Ibrahim2026
ER  -