Women are great human beings created by God. They are mothers who play a big role in nurturing and raising children and ensuring family affairs run well and smoothly.

Women’s roles also cover the aspect of administration of organizations at various levels and women’s involvement in leadership through various levels, portfolios, roles and so forth is something that cannot be denied and in fact the total keeps on increasing in the governance of a country.

The country’s administration also provides opportunities for women to become leaders to the extent of being appointed as ministers.

The trend also shows an increase in posts held by women at universities. According to the statistics published in 2022 in the education system, women were still ahead of men where the percentage at the primary level was 98.4 percent, secondary 94.5, and tertiary 47.5.

The role of women in research at universities is important and influential in various aspects. From research angle for example, women often lead innovative research projects and provide great contributions in terms of knowledge discovery and development.

In addition, they also play a role as mentors and educators to students, helping guide a generation of new researchers and encourage more women to venture into the field of research.

Universiti Malaysisa Terengganu (UMT) Deputy Vice Chancellor (Research and Innovation) Prof. ChM. Dr. Marinah Mohd Ariffin said women who have a career are individuals who have succeeded at developing self-potential.

” If we examine from the perspective of opportunities, actually there is no difference between genders”

“Although as women we have all sorts of commitments, such as family matters, responsibilities towards children, and parents, we can manage all these if we can identify our abilities”.

She added that women need to have a support system that is systematic to further catapult the abilities they have.

“Sometimes we need to think about other chores, such as fetching the children from school at noon, caring for sick family members, and the likes”

“However, if we have a good support system, we can manage these obstacles and our focus in our career is still on the right track”.

She added that selecting friends from a variety of groups and backgrounds is also important for mental and physical wellbeing.

“When we participate in associations or outside organizations whose scope is different from our profession, we can learn other skills as members not as bosses. This can foster a closer relationship with friends including those at work because outside activities do not take into account positions held at the office and this strengthens the camaraderie with one another and reduces stress,” she said.  

Undeniably, women play an important role in advancing research at universities and bringing a positive impact in the development of knowledge and technology at present and in the future.

Published by:

Corporate Communications Office

Universiti Malaysia Terengganu