Gerakan members have been told to work towards controlling their own economic future as most jobs now do not need physical strength, like those in the education, services and professional sectors.

Party deputy president Kerk Choo Ting said future issues were not expected to be gender-based but on how to earn a livelihood in the wake of global trade and market liberalisation.

He said key production factors like land, funds and human resources had been over-taken by a knowledge and technology-based economy where human resources training and education decided the country's economic future.