AWARE Singapore

Grow your wealth in the new year

Thursday, January 21 2010, 6:30 to 9pm

Sorry this event has been sold out.

A 2009 joint survey by AWARE and ipac found that almost 75% of the women felt they did not have sufficient knowledge to make good investment decisions.

While women generally expressed confidence in their ability to manage money, many expressed uncertainty about investing, understanding financial language and ensuring they have enough money for retirement.

Empower yourself with the knowledge you need to achieve your financial goals in 2010: attend this seminar to learn how to invest successfully and avoid common mistakes.

It’s never too late to start making your money work for you.

Date: 21 Jan 2010 (Thursday)

Time: 6.30pm – 9.00pm

Venue: ipac boardroom, 2 Battery Road, #27-00 Maybank Tower (opposite The Fullerton Hotel)

Price: SOLDOUT
The price includes a light dinner and a 1-hour private consultation with one of ipac’s experienced and highly qualified advisers.

Pay at the Door:
$20 per person

Early Bird Special:
Make advanced payment online any time before January 20th to enjoy this price.

Single:$10
Pair: $15 Bring a friend!

Member’s Discount:
AWARE members can log in to get a 40% discount off the early bird price. That’s just $6 for the workshop or $9 for a pair ($4.50 each!) so bring a friend!

For more info or help with booking call Priyanka at AWARE on 6779-7137 or email priyanka@aware.org.sg

Registry of Societies approves changes to AWARE Constitution

At the 23rd Annual General Meeting held on 26 March 2008, AWARE members voted for various amendments to the Constitution, subject to the approval of the Registry of Societies (ROS).

These amendments were approved by the ROS on 21st October 2009. The changes are fairly extensive. Some of the more significant ones relate to membership criteria and rights, and the size and composition of the governing body.

Membership eligibility

AWARE membership is open to anyone who (a) believes in the objectives of AWARE and (b) is aged 15 and above. Applicants aged between 15 and 18 must have written parental consent.

There are three categories of AWARE membership:
(a) Ordinary (renewable annually) which is open to women above 18 years of age who are Singapore citizens or permanent residents

(b) Female Associate (renewable annually) which is open to women:
• between 15 and 18 years of age who are Singapore citizens or permanent residents
• above 15 years of age who are not Singapore citizens or permanent residents

Life membership is open to those who have been ordinary members for a total of at least 10 years and who pay a one-time fee.

Rights of Membership

Membership Type	Attend General Meeting	Vote at General Meeting	Election as ordinary board member	Election as office bearer (President, Secretary etc)
Ordinary	YES	YES	YES	YES
Female Associate	YES	YES	YES (subject to max of 25% of Board)	NO
Male Associate	YES	NO	NO	NO

Termination of Membership

The Board can terminate the membership of any member who, in its opinion, does not support the objectives of AWARE, or has acted in a manner detrimental to the interests and good name of AWARE, or whose subscriptions are more than three months in arrears.

Anyone whose membership is terminated can appeal to the General Meeting of members.

The Board

AWARE’s governing body, now called the Executive Committee and comprising 12 members, will, from the next annual general meeting, be known as the Board. It will have only seven members and will focus on governance, leaving the society’s daily operations in the hands of the Executive Director and her staff.

The term for each Board member will be two years, and the Board can co-opt up to two female members.

Another change is that the annual general meeting need not be held in March. The Board can determine another time.

AWARE’s objectives

AWARE’s objectives are unchanged but have been slightly rephrased in the new Constitution. This is how the general objectives of the society are now stated:

(a) to promote the participation of women in all areas, create an awareness of the contribution women make to society and further develop their potential through, amongst other things, education, learning and training opportunities
(b) to promote gender equality by, amongst other things, educating the public on issues relating to gender, equipping women and men to deal with various forms of discrimination, and creating awareness of their mutual rights and responsibilities
(c) to promote the well-being of women by, amongst other things, providing emotional, psychological or legal support
(d) to promote values and norms which would improve the quality of life of women and their families and achieve the betterment of Singapore society as a whole.

Members who would like a copy of the new Constitution can get one from the AWARE Secretariat.

Everyone Needs a Day Off

By John Gee, President, TWC2

GET THIS POSTER. IT’S FREE.
Pick up a copy at either AWARE
or the TWC2 office. Details below.

Some things seem so obvious that they should not need any justification. Everyone needs time off work? Of course they do: what is there to explain?

This common sense approach does not seem to apply for around half of their employers when it comes to domestic workers from other countries. They don’t give their employees days off. It is as though they are a species apart, uniquely excluded from the considerations due to everyone else.

Most people value their weekends as a time to spend with their families, their friends or be alone, if they wish. They may go out, lie in late in the morning – any number of activities, or inactivities, come to that. They leave the weekday routine behind and have more say over how they spend their time. This is not just a chance to rest physically, but to revitalise mentally. It meets a real need, and when they return to work the following week, they are better able to cope for having had a break.

It is another story for domestic workers who don’t have time off. They may well find themselves busier at weekends than on weekdays. They certainly don’t have the chance to rest both physically and mentally, to have a change of scene and do whatever they feel like doing. No wonder many become depressed and dispirited.

If a person just works every day, what is the point of life? There should be chances to enjoy oneself, to learn more and have new experiences.

At Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2) we must have heard just about every argument against giving domestic workers a day off. There are the ones about employers not wanting to risk their bonds if the worker runs away, the desperate need for their presence seven days a week to look after the young, old or disabled, or those about how she might ‘get into bad company’, have a boyfriend or be ‘spoilt’ in some way. There are answers to all of these arguments for those ready to listen.

There are those who simply find it too convenient to have someone waiting on them at all hours, and maybe they will only change their ways when they have no choice.

But others may be ready to rethink their position, especially if they can be persuaded to give more thought to their workers’ feelings and wishes. Trying to convince employers to see their workers in a more empathetic way is one of the approaches TWC2 takes in trying to encourage them to give their domestic workers a weekly day off.

One initiative this year was the production of a poster headed ‘She’s not just your maid: her name is Lita’. Lita stands in the centre, looking forward, with the images to each side of her of the people at home and in Singapore whom her labour supports. Showing her as a woman caring for her own family invites empathy; most viewers could certainly identify with that. The poster also subtly contradicts the image of domestic workers as being irresponsible and needing to have their actions controlled. Having the commitment to support a family at home suggests a considerable level of responsibility.
The poster appeals: ‘Show your appreciation: Give her a day off.’

TWC2 hopes that more and more employers will decide that this is the right and humane thing to do.

Help us get spread the word. Get a copy of the poster – it’s free – and put it up at your workplace or organisation.

We’ll mail a copy to you if you send us $2 worth of postage stamps. Or pick up a copy either at the TWC2 office or at AWARE.

Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2)
5001 Beach Road
Golden Mile Complex
#06-27, Singapore 199588
T: 6247 7001
F: 6396 0759
info@twc2.org.sg

Website: www.twc2.org.sg
Helpline for migrant workers: 1800 888 1515

Thanks for saying ‘NO’ to violence against women

Many thanks to all who responded to our call to support the White Ribbon campaign, the worldwide effort to end violence against women, by signing our online petition.

By wearing a white ribbon, a man is making a personal pledge to never commit, condone or remain silent about violence against women and girls. Wearing a white ribbon is a way of saying, “Our future has no violence against women.”

On 25 November, which is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon announced a Network of Men Leaders. These men will act as male role models in a campaign opposing violence against women.

Mr Ban urged all men to join the campaign, saying about 70% of women experience some form of physical or sexual violence from men.

Speaking at the UN headquarters in New York, the secretary-general called on men and boys around the world to join the campaign.

“Break the silence,” he said. “When you witness violence against women and girls, do not sit back. Act. Advocate. Unite to change the practices and attitudes that incite, perpetrate and condone this violence.”

He said men must teach each other that real men do not violate or oppress women – and that a woman’s place is not just in the home or in the fields but in schools, offices and boardrooms.

Violence against women takes many forms:

Physical violence against spouses and girlfriends – from hitting right up to murder
Sexual violence – usually committed by a boyfriend, husband, trusted adult, or family member
Emotional abuse — sexual harassment at work or on the street, stalking, jokes that demean women, and controlling behaviour
In some countries, there is violence in the form of genital mutilation of girls and trafficking of girls and young women into prostitution.

AWARE has organised White Ribbon Campaign activities since 2004.

Find out more about the White Ribbon Campaign: http://www.whiteribbon.ca/

Financial Clinic By iPAC @ AWARE on 29 Jan 2010

Description: One on one consultation with iPAC financial consultants for women earning less than $3000 and are facing changed financial circumstances divorce, death of spouse, loss of job, partner loss of job, increased debt servicing and impoverishment from loss of investment.

Financial consultants will assist clients to plan their finances, optimise their resources and reduce expenses.

Event title: Financial Clinic By iPAC
Date: 29 Jan 2010
Time: 7-10pm
Venue: AWARE Centre

To register call Priyanka at 67797137 or email priyanka@aware.org.sg

The State of Women: Reality Bites

By Dana Lam, AWARE President

I’m writing this on a Saturday. Unless things have changed, several hundred Singapore men are likely to have been on the first boat to Batam this morning. Awaiting their arrival are girls who, in a better world, would be on a college campus somewhere instead of in the stale confines of a karaoke lounge with the zippers of their jeans permanently down.

Here in Singapore another group of girls is waiting: girls prized for their innocence, their young faces getting tense as the expiry date of their two-week social visit pass approaches and there are no takers still. They are here on a gamble, hoping for the chance of a better life as wives of Singaporean men. It is difficult to know what to wish for them: that they have to return to their home country with no husband in tow, or to be married off to men whose offer of a ‘better’ life could mean unalleviated servitude, violence and abandonment. (See Below.)

Yet other women have scraped together money to pay the handlers’ fee and passage here on the promise of work placements in our many swanky shops and restaurants or in the entertainment circuit only to find themselves entrapped in squalor and vice.

The story is old as the hills. Whether innocent bride or hard-nosed vamp, the road taken is seen the world over, paved with countless trampled bodies and souls. What should concern us all is what it reveals of our patriarchal roots and their strangulating hold on our collective imagination and regard of women. After a century of the vote, after topping the men in education, after some of us have run huge businesses and led nations, women are still reducible to the position of chattel. Women allow it. Men do it.

A recent article in The New York Times, The Mismeasure of Woman, resonates. The measure of women’s advancement in the number of us making it to high political or management appointments is misleading because there has not been significant change in the fundamentally patriarchal attitude towards women. This attitude manifests in a spectrum of violence involving fathers, mothers, daughters, sons.

In just the last few weeks, we have read in the local media about two young victims of rape. In both cases, the perpetrator was the father. In one, the girl is given to believe that rape is a form of punishment for her misdeeds. In yet another case, 16 year-old Nur Azilah Ithnin was sentenced to four years imprisonment for doing the dirty work for loan sharks. Nur’s case history includes physical abuse by her father.

Mothers and grandmothers have been implicated in cases such as these. All too often mothers have stood by silently if not actually been involved in the violence on their daughters. The daughters may be retaliating. Social workers are reporting increases in elder abuse where the perpetrator is a woman. And, sadly, too many women continue to abuse the other woman in the house, the foreign domestic worker.

This month, in countries around the world, people are taking part in the White Ribbon Campaign. The campaign calls for men to pledge never to commit, condone or keep silent about violence against women. It is a pledge we should all make.

Men, say “NO” to violence against women

Money Me, You and Us

25 November 2009, 6.30pm – 9.00pm

When I becomes we, what happens to your finances to your finances as an individual and as a couple? Is it a case of share and share alike, or What’s yours stays yours, what’s mine stays mine?

This White Ribbon Day, learn how you and your partner can communicate more effectively about money, and plan and organise your finances to build a more secure future together.

Listen to speakers from AWARE and ipac for tips in these areas:

financial: learning to plan your finances together with your partner to achieve your goals
legal: what you should know about how the law operates in issues surrounding the family finances, especially in event of death, divorce or in a financial crisis.
psychological: women face cultural and emotional obstacles when it comes to talking about money. Understanding how to overcome these constraints and finding their voice can help address money matters as a couple.

date: 25 November 2009 (Wednesday)

time: 6.30pm – 9.00pm

venue: ipac boardroom, 2 Battery Road, #27-00 Maybank Tower (opposite The Fullerton Hotel)

fees:

$5 flat fee for Aware members,
$10 for non-members and
$15 for non-members if they bring a friend

Fees include a light dinner and a 1-hour private consultation with one of ipac’s experienced and highly qualified advisers.

payment: Please secure your place by making payment online below.

WOMEN'S HELPLINE

1800 777 5555

SEXUAL ASSAULT CARE CENTRE

6779 0282

General enquiries

6779 7137

MENU

Year: 2009