(AFP) Malaysian men, already berated by Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad for being lazy, were dealt another blow today when they were told better educated women would take more top jobs.

Human Resources Minister Fong Chan Onn said there were more women than men in tertiary education and suggested that in future there would be more female decision-makers in both the corporate world and in politics.

Even the difficulty of juggling a career and family would become less of an obstacle because the growing "knowledge economy" would enable women to work from home, he was quoted as saying by Bernama .

"The K-economy will enable women to minimise, if not circumvent some of these difficulties whereby a woman can remain in contact with her office and clients from her home and go to the office only when her physical presence is necessary."

"For the first time in Malaysia's history, the central bank is headed by a woman and also the Attorney-General and Solicitor General are also women.

The General Manager of the Port Klang Authority is also a woman," he said.

Under-represented

Fong said women were still under-represented in the workforce, with only three woman ministers out of a total 27, and only 13 out of 193 members of Parliament were women.

"Although 48 percent of Malaysians in the 15 to 64 age group are women, they account for only one-third of the total labour force in the country," he said in a statement prepared for Women's Day today.

Mahathir, who in January created a women's affairs ministry, has called Malaysian men "lazy" and said women would continue to be chosen for top jobs because they were better candidates.

He was quoted as saying women in universities were studying "serious" subjects while the men were too lazy to get useful qualifications.

Fong had earlier slammed opposition party PAS over its approach to women's rights, calling it "highly restrictive."

PAS angered women's groups recently with a proposal that employers be encouraged to hire less attractive women to curb sexual harassment in the workplace.

Fong said the labour department would set up a special unit to monitor and investigate discrimination to women workers.

Malaysia recently amended the constitution to guarantee women equal rights with men, by adding the "sex" to the current list of outlawed grounds for discrimination - religion, race, descent or place of birth.