"Despite all the benefits provided during the last fiscal to promote women's inclusiveness at the workplace, the lack of any mention of support in the Budget 2018 to corporates that provide these benefits to women is disheartening. It does not do anything to promote women's employment. This will further increase the discrimination against women's employability and make it difficult for companies that are striving for gender equality.
The government's decision to reduce a woman's contribution to EPF to 8% from 12% for the first three years is a notional change where the increase in take-home salary still comes out of women's savings. This still doesn't address how the government can help subsidize the cost of high-quality childcare for mothers."