Malaysia, globally ranks 104th in the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index 2020; ninth in the Southeast Asian region. This report measures gender parity across 153 countries based on four indicators: economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival, and political empowerment. Although Malaysia may have achieved gender parity in some areas such as life expectancy and enrolment in secondary and tertiary education, Malaysia is still far behind in other key areas including literacy rates (86^th), economic participation (97^th) and political participation (117^th). 

As Malaysia is a State Party to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), the Commission independently monitors and reports on the state of women’s human rights in the country to the CEDAW Committee and other relevant UN bodies. The Commission also engages and works closely with Malaysian government agencies, religious bodies, civil society and, more recently, businesses to:

• promote compliance of CEDAW;
• advise and assist in the implementation of CEDAW Committee recommendations, including in the making of gender equality law and other law and policy reforms; and
• raise awareness on related and intersectional rights issues in Malaysia, including sexual and gender-based violence and discrimination.