Mr Speaker Sir, thank you for allowing me to speak on a topic that is professionally very important to me as the Director of the NTUC’s Women and Family unit, as well as a career woman in the making for the past 20 years of my life.
Just two weeks ago, in my secondary school alumni chatgroup, one of my alumni mates posed a question to the ladies in the chatgroup - she asked for our opinions as females progressing in our careers and workplaces. Mr Speaker Sir, I may like to declare at this time, that I studied in an all-girls environment for 10 years of my life, and it was not by design that we excluded men in our straw poll.
Now in that chat group, we have women who are born in the 70s, 80s, and even 90s. Many are executives in MNCs, SMEs, some are business owners, recruiters, community leaders and we even have members of parliament in there – not just me, but also the Honourable Ms Carrie Tan. And as the answers came in, I saw the most fulfilled and happiest of us, are women who are able to adapt well because they have the opportunity of choice. Due to these choices, they are able to move freely in and out of different work arrangements.
Indeed, we all know of sisters, mothers, daughters in our lives who have made changes to their work due to changing family responsibilities. These are women who have heeded the call of motherhood, taken on the role of being sole caregivers, stepped up to take on extra work in the face of job and wage cuts.
I recently met with Ms L, who used to work 9-to-6 in the office as a manager, but now works full time as an interior designer at home to take care of her home-bound adult special needs brother. She intends to continue to make adjustments to her work and her life as her brother and her grow old together. She is both the sole breadwinner as well as the sole caregiver in her household.
I was excited to hear from DPM Heng that he will be setting up an initiative to look at creating micro-jobs in the community through the good and safe hands of our CDCs. Women need choices in their work arrangements, and I believe that micro-jobbing would be something that is very welcomed in our communities. In my constituency work, I have come to recognise that more women are coming back to the workforce as part of their efforts to supplement their household incomes. However, in reconnecting with work, the issues that took women away from the workplace still remain. Their children and elderly loved ones still need caring for and women need to be in full control of when they work and where they work and how they work.
Thus, the prospects of in-community micro work will be an attractive option for many women. However, in enabling women with this option, we must be certain to be able to provide protection and good safety nets. As micro-jobs pick up in popularity and leave the safe protective hands of the CDC, and into the invisible hands of the free market, the house may need to consider some protective areas.
Take Madam H for example. She was contracted to look after an elderly for three hours while his family members went out for the afternoon. After four hours, the family had not returned, and Madam H had to leave to pick her granddaughter from school. The elderly she was caring for told her to come back another day for payment, as his family members had left him no money to pay Madam H. Till today, Madam H has yet to be paid for her services, and she has kindly deemed it to be an act of community service, even though she needed the money for her own family.
Mr Speaker, in considering safety nets, we may need to look at the following:
One - Awareness and education. As micro-jobs and other non-traditional employment types come into play, we will need to educate both micro-jobbers and their service buyers of their obligations. Perhaps all micro-jobs below a certain amount needs to be cash upfront payments as an informal industry standard. Such informal practices are set by strong first movers, and I look forward to the leadership by the CDCs.
Three - Dispute management and mediation. Hassle-free escalation pathways need to be created to protect both micro-jobbers and their service buyers. In Madam H’s case, she had no recourse other than herself to recover her service fees. She is not covered by the employment act, and TADM would perhaps be too large a blade to wield in her representation. Could we perhaps have a mediation hotline set up for a small fee for such cases?
