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Women in Brunei Darussalam enjoy increasing access to education and employment opportunity.Female participation in the labour force increased from 31.3% in 1981 to 59.1% in 2005. Small and medium enterprises provide 92% of employment for women in the private sector and women are the major beneficiaries of micro-credit financing schemes in the country (62% of the total beneficiaries as of March 2006).
The Brunei Women's Business Council (WBC) has raised the matter as a follow-up to commitments made by government representatives at the recent APEC meeting in Vietnam, which highlighted the need to help promote entrepreneurship among women. Businesswomen in Brunei are eligible for loans of up to $30,000 each from banks for setting up micro- or home-based businesses, but many of them are facing difficulties in obtaining such loans. Moreover, even though some micro and home-based enterprises have been in operation for many years, they still experience difficulty in obtaining licenses for new businesses and locations.
Women in Brunei Darussalam have benefited a great deal from the country’s progress and development despite the fact that there is no specific stated policy on women. Efforts on development are pursued for the betterment of all Bruneians regardless of race, ethnic grouping or gender. Without a doubt the steady progress of providing free education to the population has the greatest impact on social development in Brunei Darussalam. Educational opportunities are equally open and readily accessible to women and men.
Indeed, we have now come to the stage where there are more women in all institutions of learning including tertiary education. This opportunity has enabled nearly 85 percent of the female population to be literate with illiteracy primarily confined to the older generation. Good health is another factor which has contributed significantly towards development as a whole. For the women in Brunei Darussalam, they have always enjoyed good health as reflected by the positive health indicators. The government gives high priority to preventive and promotive health programmes on women’s health through comprehensive safe motherhood and reproductive health programmes, in addition to other health programmes. The fact that life expectancy for female is 76.6 years, outliving the male by about five to six years is a testament to the importance of provision of health service for everyone. With better education and due to labour-shortage at all levels, employment opportunities for women are always available both in the private and public sector. Thus, the labour force participation rate of women now stands at 46.6 percent. We now find women gainfully employed in major occupational groups be they professional, technical, administrative and many others. Their initial participation in the supporting roles is rapidly changing.
There are increasing numbers of them in positions of executive, managerial and professional categories. The picture of women as entrepreneurs is also changing. We now see women increasingly involved in business not just as the traditional door to door vendors of goods and services but also in more modern and fiercely competitive fields of business. Women now hold positions such as proprietors, managers, directors and in partnership with national and international companies. Now, women are decision-making positions, where women in partnership with men are sharing power and responsibility. This convinced that all these positive developments in the status of women in Brunei Darussalam are the results of free education and the equal opportunities and access to various socio-economic activities. The Government of Brunei Darussalam has long recognizes the important role of women and will continue to provide even more opportunities to women to develop their potential to the maximum in the interest of the progress and well being of the nation.
Women also continue to play important roles in nation building through the NGO movements. Women associations in Brunei Darussalam tend to be active and self supporting, which an admirable achievement is given the size of our population. Their contributions are especially noticeable in the fields of welfare, education, prevention of crime such as drug abuse, and in youth development where the fruits of their achievements can be seen in the increasing awareness among women of the significant role they play in society. |
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