scholarly journals Unpaid Domestic Work and Gender Inequality in the Time of COVID-19 in Malaysia

Author(s):  
Harn Shian Boo

The COVID-19 pandemic affected how we spend our time in the workplace and at home. Moreover, it caused employed couples to simultaneously work from home and deal with unpaid work due to Malaysia’s Movement Control Order (MCO). What happens to housework and childcare responsibilities when women and men are required to work from home due to an abrupt lockdown? Who is doing the housework and childcare? Who should be responsible for unpaid domestic work? What are the factors that affect men’s share in housework and childcare? This paper reports the early results of an online survey conducted on Malaysian men and women during the nationwide imposed lockdown in May 2020. In addition, it discusses how the pandemic affected unpaid housework and childcare time and responsibilities in Malaysia. The findings suggest that women spend more time on housework and childcare than men and are responsible for most unpaid domestic work during COVID-19. These findings are consistent with those obtained before the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings also suggest that the time availability perspective affects men’s share in housework and that the relative resources perspective affects their share in childcare during COVID-19. Overall, the results call for policy attention to the factors that narrow gender inequality in unpaid domestic work.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohd Ridzuan Hamid ◽  
Meor M. Meor Hashim ◽  
Lokman Norhashimi ◽  
Muhammad Faris Arriffin ◽  
Azlan Mohamad

Abstract The recent global pandemic is an unprecedented event and took the world by storm. The Movement Control Order (MCO) issued by Malaysia's government to halt the spread of the deadly infection has changed the landscape of work via a flexible working arrangement. The Wells Real Time Centre (WRTC) is not an exception and is also subjected to the change. WRTC is an in-house proactive monitoring hub, built to handle massive real-time drilling data, to support and guide wells delivery effectiveness and excellence. The functionality of the WRTC system and applications are embedded in the wells delivery workflow. The centre houses drilling specialists who are responsible for observing the smooth sailing of well construction and are tasked to intervene when necessary to avoid any unintended incidents. WRTC is equipped with myriads of engineering applications and drilling software that are vital for the operations. Such applications include monitoring software, machine learning applications, engineering modules, real-time data acquisition, and database management. These applications are mostly cloud-based and Internet-facing, hence it is accessible and agile as an infrastructure that is ready to be deployed anytime anywhere when it is required. The strategy for WRTC mobility started as soon as the MCO was announced. This announcement mandated the WRTC to operate outside of the office and required the staff to work from home. The careful coordination and preparation to transform and adapt WRTC to a new norm was greatly assisted by the infrastructure readiness. All of these factors contributed greatly to a successful arrangement with zero to minimal downtime where a workstation was set up in each personnel's home, running at full capacity. This transformation was done within one day of the notice and completed within hours of activation. Despite the successful move, few rooms for improvements such as redundancy of VPN use to access applications and limited access to some proprietary software can be enhanced in the future. WRTC is ready to be mobile and agile to support the drilling operations remotely either in the office or from home. The quick turnaround is a major indicator that WRTC infrastructure and personnel are ready and capable for remote operations without interruption.


2017 ◽  
Vol 39 (7) ◽  
pp. 1855-1879 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marta Dominguez-Folgueras ◽  
Teresa Jurado-Guerrero ◽  
Carmen Botía-Morillas

This article analyzes changes in the division of routine domestic work after first parenthood. We wanted to know whether and how it was possible for couples to resist the trend toward traditionalization that has been shown in the literature. To do so, we analyze semistructured interviews with 27 Spanish couples who were expecting their first child in 2011 and interviewed them again in 2013. The couples were selected from a bigger sample because of their nontraditional practices preparenthood. Our results show that 17 of them were able to maintain a nontraditional division of domestic work, whereas 10 traditionalized. In our analysis, relative resources and time availability did not sufficiently explain the changes in the division of work, but specific characteristics of the division of work before childbirth—men’s active participation, the routinization of tasks, and flexible standards—emerged as key factors to resist the trend toward more traditional arrangements.


2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 65
Author(s):  
Salmiwati Othman ◽  
Mahadir Ladisma Awis ◽  
Suhaimi Abdul Samad ◽  
Ainul Fadzilah Harun

In recent years, the focus on the challenges regarding work from home (WFH) has been escalating throughout the globe. In the context of Malaysia, seeing that this is an emergent issue, there are still limited studies conducted on the framework or model that promote the effectiveness of WFH. However, there are fundamental issues that need to be addressed, namely; (i) the accessibility and coverage; (ii) the acceptance level among the staff and (iii) the quality of productivity. This study outlines two main objectives, which are (i) to examine the internal factors; and (ii) the external factors that influence the staff while WFH during MCO. Thus, there is an increasing need to recognise the benefits and potential challenges towards assisting the human resource practitioners to be more effective in implementing the WFH (Nordin et al., 2016). This study was conducted among the staff of Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) during the Movement Control Order (MCO) from 18 March till 9 June 2020. Based on the survey conducted among 17,541 staff (as per 31 Mac 2020), 1,320 staff volunteered to be involved in this survey. The data was analysed using the SPSS v26. In part, the analysis was carried out to ascertain the main challenges comprising of internal and external factors. From the internal factor, the findings showed that flexible working hour was found as the main factor; mean value of 4.10. Furthermore, for the external factor, the factor on the distraction due to other commitments such as parent/child caretaker and house chores was found as the main factor; mean value of 3.82. The findings of this study significantly contribute towards understanding the internal and external factors of WFH, and serve to measure the productiveness and the effectiveness of WFH from the viewpoint of higher learning institutions.     Keywords: work from home, staff experience, internal factor, external factor, movement control order  


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 1589-1601
Author(s):  
N.K. Tharshini ◽  
Zamri Hassan ◽  
Faizah Haji Mas’ud

The COVID-19 pandemic has evolved rapidly and affected almost all the world's countries, creating unprecedented chaos on human lives, physical health, mental wellbeing, and the world economy. During this time, digital space has become an indispensable global means of communication, entertainment, and social interaction. However, high reliance on digital tools increases the risk of being prey to cyberattacks. In order to explore the cybercrime threat landscape, empirical research was conducted to examine the shared experiences related to cybercrime threats during the enforcement of the Movement Control Order in Malaysia. Data was collected using an online survey among 332 respondents across Malaysia. The finding stipulated that most of the respondents comprised females aged between 18 and 28 years old. The result also indicated that majority of female became victims of online phishing/malware distribution [(M = 0.58, SD = 0.13); t (113) = 2.24, p = 0.02] and online sexual harassment [(M = 0.56, SD = 0.11); t (107) = 2.38, p = 0.01]. The understanding of cybercrime experiences faced by the public during MCO is essential to help law enforcement agencies to stay vigilant on issues related to public safety and security during unprecedented conditions.


2021 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 201-216
Author(s):  
Fatin Adira Murad ◽  
Azlan Ahmad Kamal

The Covid-19 pandemic has significantly altered the education system globally shutting down face-to-face (f2f) learning in order to prevent the spread of the disease. The Malaysian government implemented Movement Control Order (MCO) starting in March 2020 creating a new norm for Malaysian citizens’ working, educational and social environments. Work from Home (WFH) became part of the new norm for most working people with university students having no choice but to continue their education via Open and Distance Learning (ODL). Thus, this study investigates the impact of e-learning among university students studying sport skill subjects during this pandemic. An online survey was distributed to 152 students in their second to seventh semester majoring in Physical and Health Education to (1) investigate the well-being of students during online classes (2) identify the effectiveness of sport skill subjects learned online among the students and (3) study the relationship between online lectures and the effectiveness of learning sport skill subjects. A descriptive research design was used to describe the effects of e-learning among the students. The findings revealed that students did not suffer any psychological distress during online classes but indicated a lack of confidence in their capabilities in executing the skills in real life. No significant correlation was revealed between lecturing online and the effectiveness of learning sport skill subject learned among the students.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 70
Author(s):  
Siti Masayu Rosliah Abdul Rashid ◽  
Norhafiza Md. Sharif ◽  
Azimah Abd Rahman ◽  
Mohd Amirul Mahamud

The coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak is causing a global health crisis, which has inevitably led to a worldwide economic slowdown. In Malaysia, the small business sector is most affected by the movement control order (MCO). The MCO has caused the closure of the retail and transport sectors that has sharply curtailed the daily operations of the majority of small entrepreneurs, leading to a loss in income. However, if small business communities make optimal use of digital applications for their business activities, their income will be less affected by the current Covid-19 pandemic. Furthermore, the everyday use of ICT has the potential to create numerous landscape improvement and business continuity, specifically for small and medium entrepreneurs (SMEs). This, in turn, would increase community participation in entrepreneurship.  Therefore, it is crucial to study the role of digital marketing in strengthening new business norms among small entrepreneurs during the Covid-19 pandemic. It is also imperative to identify other factors that can help boost digital business. This research examined the relationship between ICT use in empowering rural entrepreneurs during MCO in Malaysia. The study design consisted of a quantitative form for each research instrument using the Google Form online survey. This study’s sample was selected using a particular sampling method (purposive sampling) and snowball sampling (snowball sampling) involving 158 small rural entrepreneurs in Penang, Malaysia. The data were analysed using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 27.0 software. The findings showed that the respondents navigated the Covid-19 pandemic by carrying out business activities on the digital platform and took full advantage of the ICT applications as part of their new business norms. This study can provide input for the government to formulate strategies related to ICT in increasing awareness among rural entrepreneurs. Additionally, the input of this study can offer programs and activities to further enhance the entrepreneurs’ skills in using ICT.   Received: 4 March 2021 / Accepted: 6 May 2021 / Published: 8 July 2021


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Asnarulkhadi Abu Samah ◽  
mahazan muhammad ◽  
Abdul Hadi Sulaiman ◽  
Siti Rahah Harun

Abstract Background: The rapid acceleration in the number of hospitalizations and deaths of COVID-19 has attracted global attention and caused worldwide fear. In mid-March 2020, Malaysia has recorded the highest COVID-19 cases in Southeast Asia. As an immediate response, the Malaysian government has imposed Movement Control Order (MCO) to break the chain of infection and slow down the pandemic widespread. By mid-May 2020, R naught in Malaysia is at 0.3 as compared to 3.55 in mid-March 2020. Understanding the public’s knowledge, awareness, and reaction toward COVID-19 during the outbreak in the general population is paramount to give a real picture of the public’s responses in curbing the COVID-19 widespread. This study aims to determine the knowledge, attitude, and practice of social distancing among Malaysians during the COVID-19 outbreak. Methods: This cross-sectional study presents results from 3211 respondents by answering questionnaires through an online survey from 24 - 26 March 2020, one week after MCO was imposed. Responses were summarized using descriptive statistics and Chi-square test (χ²) statistic ware used to test whether the data from two or more groups of categories are associated with social distance practice.Results: Almost half of the respondents have an excellent level of knowledge (47.6%) and a positive attitude (47.4%) towards the COVID-19. Interestingly, more than half of the respondents (67.5%) performed good social distancing practice, while 30% exercised strict social distancing practice. A chi-square test shows that there is a significant association between knowledge and social distancing practice and no significant association between attitudes and social distancing practice. Conclusions: There is no COVID-19 vaccine nor herd immunity obtained yet, therefore the social distancing practice is the effective mechanism adopted to reduce the COVID-19 widespread, and Malaysia has proven it.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 1097-1101
Author(s):  
Muhammad Modi Lakulu Et.al

This paper discusses the findings of a review on the current literature of the features of the Management Information System (MIS)that can help workers of organizationsto provide essential services from home during the Movement Control Order (MCO) in Malaysia. The findings of the review suggest that a sound IMS must have the necessary features to support reliable services from the standpoints of flexibility, efficiency, robustness, and security to ensure users can beserved promptly and uninterruptedly. To help realize such services, organizations must repurpose the functionalities of such systems to support work from home that provide users with accurate, up-to-date information at all time and any place.


2021 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 1-6
Author(s):  
Ali Salman ◽  
Manahil Shahzad

Media and Communication Channels as carriers of news on COVID-19 might have a role in spreading panic among the population. This study was conducted to determine the media and communication channels responsible for creating panic among Malaysians during COVID-19 Movement Control Order (MCO). A survey using questionnaire was used to collect data from 253 respondents across Malaysia. In terms of media and communication channels, most of the respondents reported that they panic due to the exposure to reports from online media (Internet and social media). This is followed by communication with family members. TV, radio and newspaper reports are the third contributors of panic among Malaysians during COVID-19 MCO. Meanwhile about half of the respondents said they panic because of curiosity about COVID-19. It is an irony that online media, which contributes to the panic is also a source of information on COVID-19 and platform to work from home.


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