馬來西亞族群別婦女勞動參與之趨勢，1957-2000

隨著國家經濟轉型，工業發展腳步加快，婦女勞動力如何發揮其功用，為國家都無可逃避的議題。可是，婦女勞動力的重要性，往往被置於勞力密集型的產業發展，不但不被重視，反而視為家庭勞務的延伸。馬來西亞擁有多元種族的人口，包括馬來人、華人與印度族，到底其婦女勞動力有什麼樣的發展內容，一直是外界所好奇的事情？本著這樣一個問題意識，試圖了解馬來西亞目前的婦女勞動參與狀況。有關探討婦女勞動力的文獻，主要還是以性別分布、人口、出生率及婚姻等為主，鮮少會觸及族群議題。因此，本論文從族群的角度來解構婦女勞動力的情況，以呈現其真實的面貌。在研究方法上，本論文延用婦女勞動參與率的出生世代別，以對相同出生世代的婦女勞動參與率進行分析。研究發現，不同世代的婦女勞動參與率變化很大，最年長的婦女變化最大，其變化曲線與馬來西亞經濟環境因素有類似的分布。由於無法掌握各族群的出生世代別參與率，因此無法判斷是否對不同族群也有類似的影響，詳細情形尚待做更進一步研究。此外，三大族群呈現不同的勞動參與率趨勢。馬來族婦女呈M型，中間略微下陷；華族只出現早期肩帶型的高峰，20-29歲組有超過70％的勞動力參與率；而印度族也略呈M型，除了1997年第二高峰超越前峰外，暨無其他，而且49歲組以上的年長婦女勞動力參與率，較其他族群下降來的快。

關鍵字

婦女；勞動力參與率；出生世代

並列摘要

The changing role of women’s economic activities in developing countries is a topic of particular importance, not only because women represent a significant resource of much labor intensive industries but also because women’s ‘feminine’ qualities tied to the ‘almost exclusively’ tasks that only women performed. This study analyses changes in labor force participation of women based upon 1957-2000 census and survey data. In spite of these censuses, there are only a handful of empirical studies of female labor force participation by ethnic groups in Malaysia. Much of the past discussion has focused on the demographic, sex ratio, fertility and marriage status in the labor market. However, the purpose of this study was to find out the trends in female labor force participation by ethnic groups in Malaysia since independent. The feature of this study considered birth cohort as a useful methodology for accessing and enhancing the observing data. A birth cohort consists of all persons born within a given period of time, such as a calendar year. The study finds that there are different trends between the specific cohorts. Especially the elderly cohort has severe changes during the past decades. Coincidently, the trend of elderly cohort is similar to the Malaysia GDP. Moreover, the study has been lack of comparable time-series in ethnic groups. It is difficult to examine patterns among the three major ethnic communities of Malays, Chinese, and Indians, otherwise it will be possible to have a more distinctly pictures. There are three types of age patterns of participation by females labor force in the ethnic groups. The Malay group has a M-shaped, which have two peaks separated by a trough of lower rates in the central age groups. The Chinese group may be described as a “peak-and –shoulder” curve; the younger age group of 20-29 has an over 70% participation rate. The Indian group is identified as a double peak, mostly the early peak is higher than the late peak, but there is contrast in the 1997 year. Besides, the Indian group has an early retirement on age 49.