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Letter was submitted to the Straits Times, Forum Page, on 1st of June 2006.
How can it be that Singapore, a nation which, has since its independence, focused on and been so successful in educating and equipping its women to play their part in the economy and labour force, is so lacking in female representation at this level? This must be embarrassing for a country that places itself in the league of developed nations where zero female representation at cabinet ministerial level is unheard of. Even amongst our closest neighbours, Singapore is the only country to have no women cabinet ministers. Surely, it is not a matter of our women’s competence or aptitude. If one needs any evidence, one need look no further than the article “Where women bosses have the edge over men” (ST 30/5/2006) announcing the study by Caliper, a human resources consulting firm, which found that top women business leaders are as effective as men, although they may have different styles and strengths. 30 Singaporean women leaders participated in this study out of a total of 177 top women business leaders surveyed. More likely, the factors causing this phenomena are structural, for instance the way that work or promotions are organized, or to do with mindsets and stereotypes. In which case, the recently announced formation of the Tripartite Alliance for Fair Employment Practices (“Alliance set up to stamp out job discrimination” ST 30/5/2006) has its work cut out for it. AWARE would be happy to contribute towards this excellent initiative. The considerable increase in female representation in Parliament is a huge step in the right direction. But a lot more has to be done, in Government and in society, to remove the barriers that prevent us from deploying our human and leadership resources in the most optimal way.
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