The program, a collaboration of the Housewives Enhancement and Reactivate Talent Scheme (HEARTS) and the Career Comeback Program (CCP), is open to all women and, in particular, those women who left the workforce for more than six months. When the program was previously under HEARTS alone, only married women and single mothers between 25 and 60 were allowed to participate.
Malaysia’s government aims to create 33,000 jobs in one year through its Women@Work initiative. Malaysia’s Minister of Human Resources, M. Kulasegaran, said they “need to alleviate women’s challenge to balance family and work, such as flexibility in work arrangements…” He added that this “will enable women who are willing to join the labour force to do so and this could be offered either through flexible hours or workplaces, childcare facilities at work or the like.”