KUALA LUMPUR – The newly launched Permatang Pauh Multidimensional Poverty Index Report 2021 reveals that women heads of households have a much higher deprivation score in each dimension of poverty than their male counterparts.
Permatang Pauh MP Nurul Izzah Anwar said that the high deprivation of the home teaching and learning dimension among children of female-led households carries serious implications and needs to be addressed with a comprehensive policy strategy.
She said that the average education level of single mothers is lower compared with the average head of household schooling level.
“The average basic income for heads of household is RM2,131.85 per month, compared with RM1,451.71 per month for those that are women-led (68.1% of the average).
“The education impact index on income also differs, with a score of 0.73 compared with 0.62 of single mothers; as coefficient/impact factors – the higher the score, the better the well-being,” Nurul Izzah said in a statement issued in tandem with the launch of the report, which was attended by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Economy) Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed today.
The study also revealed that children from the B40 lower income bracket also experienced nutritional poverty and risk becoming a “dropout generation” in education.
“This study recorded a low deprivation score within children in terms of water supply (0.079) and electricity (0.07).
“However, the deprivation score in terms of housing and sanitation was found to be relatively moderate at 0.344 and 0.278, respectively.
“The level of Poverty Line Income (PLI) used in the study modified to factor in Covid-19 was found to be RM2,151; almost 8% higher than the value of the PLI for Penang in 2019 (RM1,989),” read the statement.
Mustapa, in his closing address, commended the Permatang Pauh MP’s office on its efforts to eradicate poverty in Malaysia through a multidimensional index study in the parliamentary constituency, while also engaging local youth as enumerators of the study.
He also said that the Permatang Pauh MPI study could be replicated across other constituencies to produce a more comprehensive poverty measurement.
It study, undertaken in collaboration with former economics professor and School of Poverty and Development director at Universiti Malaya Dr Fatimah Kari, can be used as an alternative and realistic method to measure poverty in the country based on the dimension of basic needs among poor households, the statement added.
The report, a four-month study planned from as early as 2019, was presented by Fatimah, and details how the pilot programme identifies and confirms the need for a more holistic approach to poverty measurement in Malaysia to determine the extent of the pandemic’s impact on vulnerable groups.
In line with the report, Nurul Izzah also reiterated the need for gender-based perspectives in the planning and spending of the government’s Budget 2022.
“The government will have to take a serious look at progressive taxation as a mechanism to finance sufficient aid and a holistic safety net for the rakyat; windfall tax, for example – as suggested by KRI in its recent report,” Nurul Izzah said in her speech, referring to the Khazanah Research Institute. – The Vibes, October 22, 2021
