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WOMEN'S WING
Helping women fulfil their aspirations The PAP supports the objective of having women fulfill their family and career aspirations
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Ƥ ǡ a motion to support the aspirations of women in juggling both their career and family. The motion was put forth by MP Tin Pei Ling on April 3 and stemmed from a position paper by the PAP Women’s Wing last year, which called for more to be done to MP Tin Pei Ling help women succeed at tabled a motion in Parliament for work and at home. more support for It called on the women at work and at home. ƥ familial, social and economic contributions of Singapore women and its support Ƥ aspirations and to be future-ready. In all, close to 20 MPs debated the motion over two days during which various ministers announced plans on how their ministries would be helping women. Ms Tin, who has a two-year-old son and returned to work in May, said Singapore can do more to support women while emphasising that “women are not asking dzǤ Ƥ female MPs who moved the motion, in which she outlined four strategies. 22
May 2017
Create capacity
Provide options
Women are still seen as the primary caregivers in a family, be it to their children or ageing parents. To free up their commitments at home, childcare and eldercare facilities need a revamp to cater more to women’s needs. For example, they should be situated near workplaces so that women can respond quickly to emergencies. Also, such centres should adopt longer opening hours to help in cases where women have to work late. On top of these, a network of caregivers who can help working mums fetch or take care of their children during times of need would also be useful. Lending her support to the motion was Dr Intan Azura Mokhtar (Ang Mo Kio GRC) who called on employers to make provisions not just for maternity or paternity leave, but also for eldercare Ǥ Dz ƪ Ǧ Ǧ teams or shared work in the workplace, Ƥ Ǧ responsibilities. I look forward to greater support from our employers, including from the public sector in this,’’ she said. More should also be done to train women who are returning to the workforce so that they refresh their existing skills, learn new skills and rebuild Ƥ Ǥ
Flexible work arrangements should become Ǥ Ƥ ǡ also husbands too as the younger generation desires more work-life balance. ȋ Ȍ ƪ ȋ Ȍ part of the work culture “otherwise, what it will only serve to do is to highlight the ơ dzǤ Ms Tin added that employers should update their appraisal system and criteria. “Many employers still appraise employees based on face-time, regardless of the quality of work produced or positive reviews from Ǥdz entrepreneurs, or womenpreneurs, helps them to be economically active but maintain better control of their time.
Remove barriers Culturally, women are still seen as the main caregivers in a family. But with more emphasis on shared responsibilities with their husbands, women should be encouraged to re-join the workforce. There also appears to be a glass ceiling on them moving up the corporate ladder. This mindset needs to change and more women should be given opportunities to take up leadership positions.