Telling women to play golf and write newspaper articles to be selected as directors of companies is "lousy advice", especially coming from a minister for women’s development, said PKR Wanita chief Zuraida Kamaruddin.

Minister for Women, Family and Community Development Rohani Karim on Friday advised women to take up the sport so they can be more visible in the corporate sector.

"What lousy advice to women is this? Why try to keep up with men when we have our own strengths to focus on? […]

"Rohani (photo) is merely concluding that we have to be more like men and change our ways," she said in a statement.

She said men and women are "born different" and the sooner we acknowledge that, the better.

"If we keep trying to be men, then we will always be many steps behind.

"As the saying goes, let us go where no men has ventured before. Be yourself, build on our own strengths,” she said in statement.

Women should instead hone their "organisations skills and humanistic approach", and use their "nurturing and caring nature" to their advantage, she said.

"That is not to say that men are not equipped to do so, but it is a known fact that women understand co-workers and subordinates better," she said.

'Hard to find suitable women'

Rohani last week said industry players want board members who can socialise, be visible and know how to market themselves.

She said this at the press conference of the Malaysian chapter of the 30% Club, an organisation made up of business leaders committee to achieving better gender balance in all levels of organisations.

The organisation’s name refers to its goal of reaching 30 percent women representation on boards of directors.

Rohani said the ministry has run programmes to boost women representation on company boards five year ago after businesses claimed I was hard to find suitable board members.

Despite women comprising up to 34 percent at the management level, only 16 percent them were elected as board members in public companies, while the number of women elevated into public-listed company boards was even smaller , only 10.3 percent.