The promotion of labor market opportunities for women in Malaysia has been the focus of several quantitative studies. Although these quantitative studies have emphasized that women face hurdles to accessing the labor market, the underlying constraints have remained largely unexplored. Against this backdrop, this qualitative study aims to identify and analyze the major relevant constraints. It relies on focus group discussions with different groups of women aged 16 to 50 as well as with employers and human resource managers of multi-national corporations. The study finds that the most relevant constraint for women’s labor market access is the solidification of social inequality due to an absence of support structures and empowerment programs. In addition, it documents that disparities between rural and urban living are an important driver of constraint to women’s labor access and highlights that two groups of women, namely women living in public low-cost housings and single mothers, face particularly significant hurdles in accessing the labor market. Instead, they are frequently stuck in casual work or as operators of microbusinesses. Based on these empirical results, the study develops policy recommendations to stimulate a discussion on gender equality at the labor market in Malaysia.
