Introduction
Mr. Speaker, as I reflect on the significant progress Singapore has made in advancing the development of women, I wish to recognise the pivotal role that the Labour Movement has played in driving this transformation. Over the years, we have witnessed a profound shift in the landscape of women’s rights, opportunities, and empowerment. Central to this journey, the Labour Movement has been unwavering in its commitment to advocating for policies and programmes that not only uplift women but ensure they thrive through the many undulating seasons of their lives.
Extensive Ground Sensing
The NTUC Women and Family unit has prioritised engaging with women and gathering feedback through various channels to stay attuned to the ground. Regular surveys, kopi chitchats, small group discussion hosted by our union leaders and extensive outreach efforts ensure that the voices of our working women are heard and reflected in policy decisions.
In 2020, NTUC partnered with the Singapore Council of Women’s Organisations and the People's Association Women Integration Network to lead the Conversations on Singapore Women’s Development. These dialogues engaged nearly 6,000 participants across more than 160 conversation sessions. The insights gathered culminated in the White Paper on Singapore Women’s Development, aligning our national policies with the real experiences of women.
The NTUC Women and Family unit works closely and regularly with the PAP Women’s Wing’s research group, where I declare I am the WW Research Group Team Head, to explore critical issues affecting women in the workplace. Through quarterly surveys, we reflect the voices of thousands of women, and we research on issues such as flexible work arrangements, challenges related to heavy menstrual bleeding, financial burdens and resources available to caregivers, and concerns about retirement and re-employment.
Influencing Policies and Formulating Action Plans through Programmes
The extensive feedback we have gathered through ground sensing empowered us to influence policies and implement concrete action plans. Examples of these efforts include the introduction of the Tripartite Guidelines on Flexible Work Arrangement Requests (TG-FWAR) and the Workplace Fairness Legislation.
Project Liquid Gold and Better Workplace Campaign
Indeed, the NTUC has always taken action to create inclusive workplaces, to better the lives and livelihoods of our caregivers in the workplace. Back in 2013, the NTUC Women and Family unit launched Project Liquid Gold to advocate for better support for working mothers who wish to continue breastfeeding after returning to work. The initiative aimed to raise awareness of the importance of breastfeeding and encourage employers to provide dedicated nursing spaces in the workplace.
While this initiative sparked many good conversations, even today, mothers continue to struggle to find suitable spaces for breastfeeding. Some are forced to express milk in washrooms or meeting rooms, sometimes blocked just by sheets of mahjong table paper. One breastfeeding mother I spoke with, was so frustrated with her boss who told her to breastfeed in the shared common toilet, that on the occasion of him celebrating the birth of his grandson, she took the opportunity to ask him, nicely but firmly, if he would think twice about having his grandson being fed with milk prepared in the public toilet. Good on you, sister, and it is precisely conversations like this that helps to push the boundaries on what is possible and fair in the workplace.
Today, Project Liquid Gold has evolved into the Better Workplace Campaign, expanding its focus to support women and promote work-life harmony. The campaign recognises and highlights progressive employers who implement flexible work arrangements and work-life harmony practices, as well as adopt policies to address workplace harassment. Employers are rewarded with either a wellness corner or lactation space in their offices. The campaign shapes gender perceptions by creating more inclusive, equitable, and supportive work environments for women employees.
Women Supporting Women Mentorship Programme
Beyond advocacy, the NTUC Women and Family unit together with our partners, have launched several initiatives aimed at empowering women and caregivers. One such initiative is the Women Supporting Women Mentorship Programme, which was first introduced in 2020. Since its launch, the programme has steadily expanded, now reaching 10 constituencies across the island, with 300 mentors and 300 mentees.
Recognising that not all women are prepared for intense one-on-one mentoring, we introduced with one of our partners, SG Her Empowerment (SHE), the SHE Supports Friendship Circles, a many-to-many mentorship model. Today, our Friendship Circles have garnered the support of 22 professional female groups from women in construction to women in cybersecurity, from working caregivers to women wanting to return to the workplace. Our circles form a network of 30,000 females, and we support each other through issues such as balancing work and caregiving, and breaking into new exciting careers in the NGOs and Digital Entrepreneurship spaces.
Indeed, mentorships are critical in equipping and empowering women to reach their potential at work and in life. Mdm Nurhani, a 52-year-old mother of five, retrenched during the COVID-19 pandemic, was somebody who was part of the mentorship programme. For two and a half years, she struggled to find a job and through Yayasan MENDAKI’s Women @ Work (W@W) programme and the NTUC Women Supporting Women Mentorship Programme (WSW), she met Ms. Noorfarahin Bte Ahmad, a Union Leader and an NTUC WSW Mentor. Through shared life experiences, Mdm Nurhani regained her confidence to secure a job with INSEAD Business School as a Development Coordinator. We have many other examples of how mentorships and female support can positively impact lives, and we call on the Government and progressive companies to provide more resources to mentorship programmes, both at community and national levels to empower and embolden women to reach for the stars both at home and in the workplace.
Employment – C U Back @ Work Programme
Mr Speaker, while taking care of the mental well-being and confidence of women in the workplace is important, another critical pillar to support women staying and re-entering the workforce are progressive workplace policies and cultures. A recently concluded Marriage and Parenthood Survey, conducted by the NTUC Women and Family Unit and PAP Women’s Wing with over a thousand respondents revealed key Government priorities for our parents. They are prioritising flexible work arrangements, improving access to affordable childcare and healthcare services, and increasing financial assistance and subsidies for families.
The Labour Movement has advocated for flexible work arrangements (FWAs) since the 1990s and caregivers have shared that FWAs are their most preferred form of support in balancing work and caregiving. While we thank the Government for heading our calls for Enhanced Paternity and Shared Parental Leave, and indeed, it has started to move the needle in reframing gender stereotypes in parenting, with two-thirds of our survey respondents agreeing that their partners shares parenting responsibilities equally, parental/caregiving leave forms just a part of a broader caregiving ecosystem. Other initiatives, such as FWAs, and caregiving support such as childcare services, trusted helpers at home, completes this ecosystem of comprehensive support for women and their families; and allows women to return to the workplace with peace of mind.
Our young families have shared that they face financial pressures while raising a family. I had spoken previously at the PAP Parliamentary Motion on Supporting Singaporeans in Starting and Raising Families that this would need to be taken with the view of providing more employment opportunities for return-to-work mothers, allowing for more sustainable long term financial independence. I shared that we would expand our popular C U Back @ Work (CUB) Programme, which helps caregivers, especially women, return to work with flexible work options to more segments of underserved women workers. FWAs are a sustainable way for caregivers to stay in the workforce, and more needs to be done to make FWAs more inclusive and accessible across different job types. The CUB Programme will now expand to PME jobs such as accounting and office administration. In addition, the NTUC Women and Family unit will re-engineer our CUB Programme to cover new-to-the-workforce pregnant mothers, ensuring that they enjoy their full maternity benefits while being secured of permanent employment after their delivery. Through CUB, we hope to demonstrate to all employers that they can support our workers to better balance their work and life demands at every stage of their lives, while accessing a larger, and productive pool of Singaporean talent.
Call to Put in More Help for SMEs
Mr Speaker, for FWAs to be sustainable it is critical that FWAs are normalised within corporate cultures. With SMEs employing up to 70% of the Singaporean workforce, SME employers with less resourcing often struggle to find temporary replacements when staff go on FWAs or parental leave. SME owners may also face financial strain when reimbursing employees for parental leave. In light of Singapore's Budget 2025 announcements, which encourages Singaporean to have larger families, and given that women are child bearers and traditionally take on the larger share of caregiving, we call on the Government to consider additional support to SMEs that employ a higher number of women. Such targeted assistance for SMEs would align with the Government’s push for larger families and increased workforce participation for females.
In addition, in the spirit of promoting inclusive workplaces, FWAs go a long way to providing a means of livelihood for Persons with Disabilities (PWDs). Ensuring that there is availability of suitable jobs with FWA is critical to securing our Singaporean workplaces as places for our PWDs to be empowered with independence and dignity. We must do more to build up a base of job coaches, so that jobs can be effectively redesigned to win-win outcomes for our employers and their PWD employees.
I also thank the Government for extending the Enabling Employment Credit (EEC) to end-2028, which provides wage offsets for companies to hire employees with disabilities. Indeed, workers with disabilities will also want to reskill and upgrade, so that their skillsets remain relevant. Depending on circumstances, PWDs may need more support for training, and the Government has an Open Door Programme Training Grant which funds employers up to 95% of course fees by SG Enable's Enabling Academy. However employers and workers may require more industry-specific training that is offered outside Enabling Academy. Could the SkillsFuture Enterprise Credit be expanded to support the training of differently-abled employees, who may require some forms of training to be tailored to their needs as well as industry requirements?
Caregiving Ecosystem
Mr Speaker, as family nucleus become smaller in Singapore, many families rely on trusted childcare and domestic helpers to provide vital support at home. Recognising the importance of fostering strong, harmonious relationships between employers and migrant domestic workers (MDWs), the NTUC Women and Family unit, in collaboration with the Centre for Domestic Employees (CDE), launched monthly advisory clinics in 2021. These clinics serve as a platform for employers to understand their responsibilities and build positive, respectful relationships with their MDWs.
Through these clinics, we observed that the majority of employers wanted advice and tips on creating strong healthy relationships with their helpers. Many pointed to shifts in the workforce: MDWs are increasingly younger, often from the millennial generation. One employer shared that she was unsure of how to navigate her relationship with her young helper who was in her 20s, as she her previous helpers were all in their 40s. She shared very pragmatic concerns such as how to set boundaries on the use of handphones, and the use of social media within the home. Unlike the more extreme hateful relationships we see frequently played up in social media, I was very heartened to see that many Singaporean employers genuinely care for their MDWs, though they are often unaware of the resources available to better support them.
Our clinics have since evolved into a programme – Getting To-Gather: Power of Women, and under this programme, we brought in resources and partnerships to build healthy employer-MDW relations such as the Centre for Domestic Employees, Rice Company, the Association of Employment Agencies (AEAS), amongst others. Our Power of Women events are well-attended with attendees in the hundreds, and feature care carnivals and awards that celebrate the positive relationships between MDWs and their employers. This shows the important role that our MDWs play in the ecosystem of care for Singaporean families, and we call on the Government to provide more support and assistance to our families in regard to greater access and affordability of MDWs. In addition, our families have asked for further assistance on being able to get temporary monthly work permits for replacement MDWs when their permanent helper goes on home leave.
Conclusion
In conclusion, while much has been made to support women and caregivers, and making the workplace an inclusive one, we have miles to go before we sleep. From policy advocacy and flexible work arrangements to mentorship and returner programmes, the NTUC remains dedicated to ensuring that all women—regardless of their circumstances and where they are in the lives—receive the support they need to reach for the stars both at home and in the workplace. Together, we can create a more inclusive society where women are empowered, supported, and given the opportunity to reach their fullest potential. #EveryWomanWorkerMatters.
Mr. Speaker, I support the Budget. Thank you.
