Debated in Parliament on 3 Apr 2017.
Madam, I beg to move*, "That this House affirms the familial, social and economic contributions of Singapore women and its support for them to fulfil their family and career aspirations and to be future-ready."
*The Motion also stood in the names of Miss Cheryl Chan, Ms Joan Pereira, Ms Rahayu Mahzam and Mr Vikram Nair.
Singapore women play an important role in building families, communities and the economy of Singapore. Their contributions, past and present, helped to make us who we are today.
All over the world, women build families and keep families together. Women also tend to contribute more to their families if they work and add to their families' financial well-being.
Evidence from a range of countries shows that increasing the share of household income controlled by women, either through their own earnings or transfers, changes spending in ways that benefit children. The "Girl Effect" that was highlighted in the World Economic Forum 2009, for instance, noted that women and girls with income reinvest 90% of it into their families, as compared to about 30% to 40% for men. While this statistic referred more to developing countries, we know from our own experiences that, in Singapore, women play a pivotal role in ensuring the holistic well-being of our families.
Women create social capital in communities through building strong families, caring for the young and old, and supporting fellow women through job opportunities and networks. Women often quietly drive community programmes that benefit residents and rally for resources and help through their own social networks to serve community needs. Those of us who have been active on the ground would have seen the aunty-networks and the mommy-networks in action, for instance.
Women drive economic growth. An increase in female labour force participation results in faster economic growth since growth is typically driven by manpower and productivity. The World Economic Forum, in its 2016 Future of Jobs report, noted that "Net job growth and skills instability result in most businesses currently facing major recruitment challenges and talent shortages, a pattern already evident in the results and set to get worse over the next five years."
Hence, as Singapore seeks to cultivate new growth engines, we should look to our women as a significant source of untapped talent and entrepreneurial dynamism. In summary, women help to increase social capital and economic prosperity and contribute to Singapore's long-term success. Singapore has generally done well in recognising and promoting the aspirations of women.
First, our laws protect women from violence, harassment and discrimination. Under the law, women have control over our own bodies. Law enforcement authorities do not turn a blind eye to crimes against women, as they tend to in some countries, but actively investigate and prosecute the perpetrators.
Second, we have good healthcare and support systems for women and children. Our record of safe births for both mother and child is the best in the world. In fact, we are the best country in Asia to be a mother, according to an annual index released by international aid agency Save the Children.
Third, Singapore girls enjoy a world-class education and emerge as confident, knowledgeable women, with our own ideas, opinions and aspirations. More than 50% of undergraduates in Singapore are women.
Fourth, we have a modern and vibrant economy, providing more interesting job opportunities for both men and women alike.
We should acknowledge these strengths even as we aspire to do better. But we also need to acknowledge the gaps and weaknesses in our system. We need to take action to accelerate our progression towards gender parity, or we will have to wait at least 50 years according to Accenture, or 170 years according to the World Economic Forum, if we are to leave things to evolve naturally.
One key gap is the gender imbalance in our workforce, where women tend to be under-represented at the higher levels. For example, the depressingly low board representation, the dearth of female chief executive officers (CEOs) and lower proportions in certain professions. This is not because men are inherently more capable or more driven than women. After all, in our schools, girls perform just as well as boys. Rather, it is because our society does not fully provide the support that women need to achieve our aspirations in the family, community and workplace at the same time.
This is why the People's Action Party's (PAP's) Women's Wing put up several position papers over the years, lobbying the Government to take tangible action. Some of these recommendations will be reiterated today. Supporting Singapore women to fulfil their familial and career aspirations and to help them to be future-ready require a whole-of-society approach, but it is important that we start in this House.
My hope is to take a positive and progressive stance in moving this Motion. Women are not asking for special treatment or privileges. Nonetheless, there are pragmatic, concrete steps that the nation can take in various areas to help women to achieve their aspirations.
I would also emphasise that many of the recommendations that my colleagues and I are putting forth in this Motion apply to Singaporeans regardless of gender. Our support for women − and men − to balance their multiple roles should help them reach greater heights, in our economy, in various professions, in social work, in the arts and in sports and in many diverse frontiers.
Our recommendations are organised along four strategies: first, create capacity; second, provide options; third, remove barriers; and fourth, to be future-ready. I will introduce these areas and describe some specific ideas under each of them. My fellow colleagues who support this Motion will provide further elaboration and explanation.
[Deputy Speaker (Mr Lim Biow Chuan) in the Chair]
First, on create capacity. First of all, we need to recognise that most people do not journey through life in a straight line and neither do we assume only one role at any one point in time. It is not a simple case of simply going to school, then work and then retire. Often, we are sons and daughters as well as fathers and mothers. Both men and women do take time out now and then, for our children, parents, school, training and other worthy pursuits.
However, while men and women both have to juggle our many obligations at work and at home, women face particular challenges. Women have traditionally been and still are the primary caregivers at home. Being nurturers at heart, it is little wonder why women care so much for our loved ones. But women also have career aspirations, and it is fair for women to want to work and give their best shot at fulfilling their ambitions. Our nation and economy also benefit with more women working, as articulated earlier.
With an ageing population, smaller families and evolving expectations, we need to make available adequate care options and strengthen our support for caregivers so that their capacity can be freed up to pursue their careers as well.
We need to rethink how the childcare and eldercare facilities are designed and situated. The key consideration must be to ensure availability and easy access to such care facilities. To help women to return to work, care facilities for the young and old need to be near workplaces as well so that working women, and men, can quickly respond to emergencies. Retrofitting existing workplaces to accommodate care facilities will take time and will be costly, too. However, this concept should be incorporated as a requirement when new parcels of land are sold or when redevelopment is on the cards.
One challenge with centre-based care is the limited operating hours of the centres. In many jobs, workers often need to work overtime or stay back late to deal with emergencies. Hence, could the operating hours of care facilities be extended so that working adults, especially those who have little control over their working hours, can be assured that their children and elderly are safe and cared for?
A complementary measure is to help establish a network of caregivers comprising full-time homemakers or retirees who can help working mothers fetch or take care of their children during times of need. I am heartened by the introduction of the Allied Infant Educarer (AIE) initiative this year but these are tied to centres with formal operating hours. Could we help by making available AIEs who have spare capacity outside of centre operating hours? An online directory can be created to help match demand with supply. Interested parents who cannot secure a placement at the infant care or childcare centre can look to this platform for potential caregivers within the neighbourhood. Basic profile and credential of these caregivers can be published in the directory. The same can, of course, be extended to those who need eldercare help and services, for instance, a network of retired nurses engaged and deployed to conduct home care for our elders.
We need to develop a SkillsFuture package dedicated to help "back-to-work women", to rebuild confidence, to refresh skills or acquire new ones, and facilitate their transition back to the workforce. I would suggest three components critical to the success of this package, namely, capability development, job matching and interim financial support. These are services already provided for by the Government, but a concerted effort is needed to help women hoping to return to work.
In developing the capabilities of women, the courses should aim to refresh existing professional skills; acquire new skills to re-enter the workforce or enter new industries of growth potential; develop entrepreneurial capacity, for example, through e-commerce; and cultivate digital fluency, a point that I will further elaborate later. Courses should also incorporate modules that help in confidence-building, personal grooming and information technology.
Next, the package should help those who have acquired new skills and qualifications to embark on a career by matching them to suitable opportunities. Some stay-at-home mothers I spoke with agreed that an effective package must take a holistic approach and have tangible follow-ups. They are keenly interested in post-course support. Everyone can take courses, subsidised or not. But the difference is in whether, after completing the courses, this will lead to real opportunities.
And for those who may not immediately secure a job after training, the package could offer a period of internship for employers and potential employees to adjust and ensure better fit of industry needs and skills to get that foot in the door. Such assistance should also apply to men who wish to return to work as well.
Many caregivers have sacrificed their prime years and savings to care for their loved ones. Hence, even as they get trained for prospective employment, they might need some help with living expenses. Therefore, the package should also provide subsistence allowances or training grants to see them through their training.
Second, provide options. We also need to accelerate implementation of flexible work arrangements (FWAs) so that Singaporeans have the option to achieve both family and career aspirations without having to trade off one for the other. We must recognise the aspirations of the younger generation of workers who desire greater work-life balance. They want to be able to give their families and careers their 100%. As societal norms shift, we also see more fathers and sons sharing the duty of care at home. Hence, making FWA more pervasive benefits all Singaporeans.
I understand that it is challenging to apply FWA across all industries and sectors in one broad stroke, because the nature of jobs is not homogenous. As such, building on to our PAP Women's Wing recommendation last year, I would like to call on the Ministry for Manpower (MOM) to implement industry- or sector-specific FWA standards to complement the existing employment laws, tripartite guidelines and advisories. Each standard will specify a set of progressive practices that are verifiable and are also industry- or sector-specific.
Upon meeting the standards, MOM can recognise the employer with an "FWA mark" because standards without audit would be quite futile. Taken together, laws, guidelines, standards and advisories will form a comprehensive map to help employers build fair and progressive workplaces.
Employers can then make public their adoption of these standards through the Jobs Bank and the Tripartite Alliance for Fair and Progressive Employment Practices (TAFEP) website. Jobseekers would then be able to identify these companies as their employers of choice.
One tangible way of encouraging employers to institutionalise FWA is to adapt current standards, schemes and awards, such as the Singapore Quality Class (Niche Business Excellence Standard for People) and TAFEP Exemplary Employer Award, to require fulfilment of FWA standards as a minimum criterion.
Employers should also be encouraged to update their appraisal system and criteria. Many employers still appraise employees based on facetime, regardless of the quality of their work produced or the positive peer reviews and customer reviews that they receive. Therefore, a holistic approach is needed when implementing industry-specific FWA standards.
Another option to enable women to work while caring for their young and old at home is to help them become entrepreneurs. As entrepreneurs, they can stay economically active and have better control of their schedule at the same time.
We have a favourable environment for womenpreneurs. Mastercard Women's Entrepreneurial Index 2016, for instance, ranked Singapore at fifth position, citing strong enabling conditions for womenpreneurs, such as high opportunity to attain advanced knowledge assets and access to mainstream financial services. We should take advantage of this and encourage women who wish to take the path of entrepreneurship to do so. We could also dedicate support to help them set up shop online and link them up with fellow womenpreneurs, so that they can exchange business ideas and opportunities, collaborate in partnerships, and help and mentor one another.
Third, remove barriers. To empower women to achieve meaningful progress, we need to also remove the barriers that constrain women. An invisible but critical obstacle is how women are being perceived and pigeon-holed. We, therefore, need to challenge the stereotypes of and reshape the attitude towards women.
At home, fathers and sons are integral family members and have equal responsibilities in ensuring the well-being of loved ones. The Government has, in recent years, been signaling the need for shared family responsibilities by increasing paternity leave and shared parental care leave. These changes also help to correct the perception of women being a greater liability than men at work. On the ground, we have also observed more hands-on fathers and sons. So, things are changing, and we must continue to build on this momentum to encourage a more equal share of care responsibilities at home.
Women tend to fall off as they progress up the career track. Women in Singapore start off well, comprising half of the workforce at the entry level but this proportion dwindles drastically as they journey up the career ladder, with women comprising a mere 9.7% at the board level. Surely, we have many more women who have the competence and calibre to sit on boards! Women also tend to concentrate in certain sectors and roles. These realities highlight the invisible walls and ceilings that women face. Therefore, we must work to improve women's access to opportunities.
Recently, Minister Grace Fu, on behalf of the PAP Women's Wing and BoardAgender, called for at least 20% female directors on boards by the year 2020. This is a positive move and an aspiration that is highly achievable. Setting such a 2020 target is certainly not about asking for special treatment. However, we should be conscious of our unconscious bias and avoid a biased selection that disadvantages women right from the start.
Fourth, be future-ready, having smart women for a smart nation. As we look to the future and move towards a Smart Nation, we must also embrace technology which is a critical enabler to the above goals. Digital fluency can help to close the gender gap and level the playing field for women at work. According to a 2016 study report by Accenture, the time needed to close gender gaps can be halved if women are digitally fluent. Yet, the digital fluency gap between men and women is one of the largest in Singapore compared to the other countries surveyed.
Digital fluency not only opens up new career opportunities for women in the digital age but also enables women to exploit smart solutions that help to create capacity and options.
With the right smart solutions, women, and men, can remotely manage situations and monitor their young and old at home while they are at work. Smart solutions can allow women to work productively and respond efficiently even if they have to be away from their offices, thereby enabling flexible work. Technology can also act as a networking tool for women in their aspirational pursuits. Digital platforms can allow women to exchange useful information and create job opportunities. E-commerce platforms, for example, can help stay-at-home caregivers monetise their skills or overcome resource constraints in starting their businesses and, in the process, maintain financial independence, stay plugged in while continuing to care for their loved ones. Women can also make use of these platforms to raise funds, find mentors and network with other women entrepreneurs.
Therefore, there is a strong case for cultivating and strengthening digital fluency amongst women. Education in schools builds the digital foundation for our next generation. But for now, we should also help our stay-at-home mothers and daughters to be digitally fluent. And we can start with the SkillsFuture package for Back-to-Work Women encompassing modules in IT literacy and basic programming. Sir, I would like to speak in Mandarin, please.
(In Mandarin): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] Deputy Speaker, today's Motion is unprecedented in the history of this Parliament. This is not a feminist Motion; instead, it hopes to strengthen Singapore's foundation and help Singaporeans, be they men or women, to achieve their full potentials and prepare for our common future.
We can all see that Singaporean women have made great contributions towards the family, the society and the country. In recent years, many studies have shown that women in the labour force can help improve the family's well-being, increase social cohesion and promote economic growth.
Although Singapore has made outstanding achievements in many areas, women need to catch up in certain aspects of life. It is particularly obvious in the workplace. Women comprise half of the workforce at the entry level but this proportion dwindles drastically as they journey up the career ladder, with women comprising a mere 9.7% at the board level. Singaporean women have good education. Among citizens who have a tertiary education, more than half are women. Hence, capability and motivation are not the main impediment.
Looking at the current situation, it is not difficult for us to guess that women still are the primary caregivers at home, and it is a challenge for them to have spare time and energy to do other things. We are an Asian society, looking after our parents and children is an undeniable duty. However, be they sons or daughters, fathers or mothers, they must carry this duty of caring for one's family equally. Fortunately, more and more fathers and sons are willingly taking up the responsibility to look after the young and old in the family.
In addition, modern Singaporean women enjoy good education and, naturally, they would have dreams and aspirations. Every Singaporean should have the opportunity to enjoy family and career life at the same time.
Therefore, we must help Singaporean women from four angles: first, establish and strengthen infrastructure and services to lighten the caregivers' burden, so that they can have time and better manage their multiple roles; second, promote FWA so that they can look after the family without sacrificing their career; third, encourage the society and the companies to value women's economic potentials and contributions; and fourth, encourage women to undergo technology and skills training and be prepared for the new digital era and the future economy.
Of course, the above does not just apply to women only. My Parliamentary colleagues and I hope that through this Motion, we can win more concrete support for Singapore women, so that they can fly high and fulfil their family and career aspirations.
(In English): Sir, this is the first time this House is debating on a Motion concerning the aspirations of women in Singapore. My colleagues and I moved this Motion not to lobby for affirmative action, but to build on the strengths of women, to recognise and close the gaps.
But most importantly, we desire to make Singapore the best home for everyone − a home where regardless of background or gender, Singaporeans have the capability, opportunity and courage to pursue our aspirations and lead a full and happy life.
We believe that now is the best time as Singapore is transforming to be future-ready. There are many things we can do to support Singapore women, but even as we continue to co-create these solutions, I believe that it is important that this House affirms the familial, social and economic contributions of Singapore women and our support for them to fulfil their family and career aspirations and be future-ready.
Question proposed.
Mr Deputy Speaker: Ms Jessica Tan.
Mr Deputy Speaker, I rise in support of the Motion. The world we live, work and play in is an exciting one, undergoing unprecedented changes. The Fourth Industrial Revolution is affecting all industries and jobs. This digital disruption is changing the landscape not only of work, but also of how work is done.
We should take the opportunity to reflect on what this could mean for both men and women. Leveraging digital technology and mobility can make things more accessible and inclusive by enabling FWA and enabling people to work when and wherever they wish to.
However, FWAs alone are not sufficient. There must also be supporting policies and an organisational culture around how work is done and rewarded. FWAs must be part of the work culture and how work is done. Otherwise, what it will only serve to do is highlight the differences between men and women in the workforce and may be seen as concessions given to women. FWAs must be accepted as the way work is done and not special arrangements made for women. For example, collaborating virtually and working anywhere should be and is increasingly becoming a norm for employees and not seen as an exception. This will allow more effective communications and collaboration for workers. Having supporting policies will indirectly encourage and enable men to participate and have a more equal share of the family and duties in the home.
For sustained impact and greater participation and success of women in the workplace, companies and leaders in organisations must also champion the value of tapping the female talent base, developing women for good jobs as well as be committed to tracking progress and retaining women.
With female university undergraduates outnumbering male undergraduates in Singapore, women are increasingly likely to be equally or better educated than men. Two-thirds of the jobs that will be available in 2020, as we all have seen in studies to date, have said that these jobs do not even exist today. What this means is that when we learn, we need to prepare ourselves for careers that may not yet exist.
With growing digitalisation, we need to build new skills and be comfortable with technology to successfully navigate this multifaceted and global environment. Technology and engineering skills are growing in importance across industries. Although we are seeing an increasing trend of females opting for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education in Singapore, women and girls remain significantly under-represented in both education settings for engineering science and IT as well as in the workforce for these fields. These are jobs that are expected to have the most growth in the next five years. This would mean that there will be a large portion of our population missing out on critical skills to further their careers and this could mean that they could also risk missing out on the next disruptive trend that could improve Singapore.
Minister Vivian Balakrishnan, in his keynote speech at the Internet of Things (IoT) Asia last week, said that "There is a disruption going on. People are worried about jobs and people are worried about wages. This is real and no politician can afford to ignore this." He also said that "the most important political challenge is to prepare our people for this revolution." He stressed the need to build the skills and capabilities to enable our people to leverage this digital disruption, thereby generating good jobs with good wages which is at the heart of what a Smart Nation is about. Just as the Minister had outlined a plan over the next few years for the Government Technology Agency (GovTech), in partnership with the National University of Singapore (NUS), to train 10,000 public officers in data science, with the current gap of women in technology in the workforce and in STEM education, we also need to drive a plan to enable women and girls to build the skills to be able to have the ability to ride this digital revolution.
We need to ensure that girls at a young age are exposed to education, both formal and informal, on digital technologies, with opportunities to have hands-on learning and experiences. Both the Government and businesses must take an active role and commit resources to attract more women in tertiary education to STEM education and training. These could include scholarships, internships and career coaching. We must set goals to increase the number of women in technology roles and take action and track the progress.
Many will agree that, in Singapore, we have made good progress in the workforce participation of women. Although still lagging male workforce participation at 76.2%, female workforce participation has increased from 57.7% in 2012 to 60.4% now in 2016. And this should be attributed to more accessible and quality childcare as well as the introduction of the family care and paternity leave.
But we should not just track the percentage of women in the workforce. We must also look at how women are doing. Based on the World Economic Forum Global Gender Report, pay for women still lags behind that of men for similar work in Singapore at a ratio of 0.81. But I must stress that this is fourth in the world, which is a very strong achievement. To achieve gender pay parity, employers should make it a point to understand and address the gap and pay for comparable work done by both men and women. I think the Government should also focus on ensuring and encouraging employers to do that. Pay should be based on contributions and not gender.
It is encouraging that the proportion of senior business roles held by women in Singapore has also risen to 30% this year, up from 26% last year. This is above the average among countries in the Asia Pacific region, shown in the survey by global consultancy firm, Grant Thornton. But if we look into the numbers across C-Suite positions, this has been falling for that same group, meaning, for CEOs, chief financial officers (CFOs) and chief operating officers (COOs), the numbers have dropped from 2016 to 2017.
Progress of the number of women, not just on boards, but on C-Suite positions, need attention. And as Ms Tin Pei Ling had shared, the progress of women on boards listed in Singapore has been slow at only 9.7% in 2016, lagging many advanced countries and even behind countries in Asia like China, Hong Kong and India.
Two weeks ago, the PAP Women's Wing and BoardAgender have called for a revision to the Code of Corporate Governance to include a "comply or explain" disclosure policy for companies on their board diversity, including gender, in their annual reports and setting a target of at least of having 20% female directors on boards by 2020. This is timely as, despite a highly educated female population, greater workforce participation by women and an increasing proportion of women in senior business leadership roles above the average amongst countries even in the Asia Pacific region, not enough attention is paid to those rules. What we are seeing is slow progress for women in senior leadership positions in C-Suite positions as well as on boards. And we have to ask ourselves why this is so, in order to come up with the right actions.
Possible areas for change criteria would apply around decision-making principles for selection and the expansion of networks or talent pools that organisations are sourcing for board talent. Beyond mentoring and cultivating the pipeline of women for boards, we should be putting women in the roles that build the skills and experiences required for board roles, including C-Suite positions. Unless women have the relevant leadership and scope of business leadership experience, even if we dictate a number, even if we set a goal, that is not going to happen unless we allow women to get the experiences that they require to qualify for the board positions.
To prepare women for board positions, we should also be deliberate in efforts to support women in senior business roles to develop for these roles. Can executive leadership education programmes to equip senior leaders with board skills be included as part of their eligible courses for SkillsFuture Credit? This will allow women in senior business roles to take ownership of their training for skills required of board members.
I would like to conclude by talking about unconscious bias. I believe that this is one of the factors that is causing the slow progress of women in senior leadership roles as well as in participation on boards despite a highly educated women talent base and a pipeline of women in senior business roles in Singapore.
Are we biased? Some of us may think that we are not. Unconscious biases are pervasive in most societies and often people are unaware of our own unconscious biases. According to a global online research study done by Implicit Association Test with over 200,000 participants, 64% of participants demonstrated a strong or moderate preference for young people as compared to old people; 75% of participants associated male with career, and female with family.
So, although this is going to be quite embarrassing for me, I thought I would just share a personal story and an "Aha!" moment that I had to illustrate the point about unconscious biases.
Sometime last year, I had a very important client meeting, and we were preparing for speakers for that meeting and my colleague assured me that we had the best speakers lined up. We had one topic on quantum computing, a fairly exciting and interesting topic but requiring a good amount of knowledge and skills to be able to explain that well and to cover the topic well. Of course, I was looking around for the speaker and then I realised who the speaker was, so I turned to my colleague and said, "Are you sure you did your homework?" And he said, "Yes." I said, "Are you sure?" And I was not quite sure. Anyway, the speaker spoke and for the next one hour, I was extremely engaged, inspired and the speaker did a very good job.
But let me share with you. I was totally embarrassed after that because it was an "Aha!" moment for me because I had just completed my unconscious bias training, and that is why it made an impact on me of my own unconscious bias because, guess what? The reason why I thought she was not the best speaker for this, is not because she was a female, but it was because she looked young and she was also extremely good looking. And I said to myself, "Gosh!" this is extremely embarrassing, because I do pride myself on feeling fairly open and I am a champion of diversity in the workforce. But it was not her gender; it was age and my assumption of experience and know-how at the same time.
Each of us has unconscious biases. I think if I look at all the statistics and the facts that are supporting us in having female talent in key positions, clearly, something is blocking that. We need to boldly ask ourselves why and face that and be able then to do something about it. I would recommend that we have training for unconscious biases both in schools and in the workplace.
I am passionate about having more women in both public and private organisations, because it makes perfect business sense and social and economic sense when you consider that women make up 50% of our population. Globally, they represent a growth market more than twice the size of China and India combined.
According to EY (previously Ernst & Young), women are the new emerging market with a combined global income that will grow to approximately $18 trillion by 2018. But research also reveals that although most companies look at women for end-users, they do not tap their female talent base to understand what women need. So, imagine this: if only males were making decisions on what innovations that companies will invest in, based on a thought process of their experience and on what products that they can use themselves, then, we have a serious problem.
Not having gender diversity at all levels will see us missing out on huge opportunities; opportunities that could slow down both societal development and the economy. So, it will take both men and women to make the difference and enable us all to do our best work and to be our aspirations, both men and women. I support the Motion.
Mr Deputy Speaker: Ms Joan Pereira.
Deputy Speaker, Sir, I rise in support of the Motion because I hope to see more measures to enable our women to achieve their aspirations and reach their fullest potential.
Although Singapore women have similar opportunities for education, training and work as men, our society still expects them to fulfill their traditional roles as mothers, daughters and daughters-in-law. As a result, women continue to shoulder the bulk of housework and caregiving duties. Even if their workloads are as demanding as those of their husbands', women are expected to take care of domestic affairs.
In many cases, when it becomes too difficult to meet both the demands of work and home, women would always put their families first, sacrifice themselves and take a step down their career ladders or stop working. Personally, I would like to see greater support and recognition of the caregiving and nurturing role of stay-at-home mothers, and also greater empowerment for those who choose to contribute in the workforce.
With an ageing population, we can expect to see even more women shouldering caregiving responsibilities for parents, in-laws and relatives. Our women are a precious resource and should be fully supported in their careers. To remain competitive as a nation, we need to secure the contribution of every qualified man and woman in our labour force.
For families to be able to entrust the important responsibility of caregiving to professionals, we should continue to seek to boost the capability and capacity of our professional caregiving sector. A segment that we can tap on is that of the retired nurses, who can be re-engaged on a "casual hours" basis. The current system can be enhanced such that, upon retirement, retired nurses can give consent to sharing their contact details for future re-engagement opportunities. This would help to alleviate the shortage of healthcare workers and at the same time the community can continue to benefit from their wealth of experience. They can also, through the course of their work, share tips on how they can take care of their family members better. Building up this network of retired medical professionals will complement what the community can offer.
Therefore, by augmenting our professional caregiving sector, we will help women stay in the workforce while providing them and their family members peace of mind, knowing that their elderly family members are being taken care of. We must continue to step up the recruitment and training of manpower for the caregiving sector. This group of professionals will play an important role in enabling the females in our labour force to achieve a higher participation rate.
Services at more of our eldercare centres can be augmented to include places for short-term accommodation for the elderly who need to stay there temporarily when their caregivers have to travel overseas. I would also like to take this opportunity to appeal again to the Government to legislate at least two days of eldercare leave per annum. This would be very much appreciated for family emergencies involving the elderly.
Next, I would like to reiterate my request for additional course subsidies, on top of the SkillsFuture Credit, for women who wish to return to work after being out of the workforce for a number of years. As I had said during the Budget Debate, many of them do not have much savings and would hesitate to ask for money from their husbands or children to attend classes. By helping them with the costs of the courses, we will enable more women to pick up skills and return to work more quickly.
As a practical way of recognising the contributions of our homemakers, I would like to propose mechanisms to encourage up to 50% of their husbands' Central Provident Fund (CPF) monthly contributions be transferred to them. These monthly transfers will provide acknowledgement and greater long-term financial assurance and is a meaningful way of recognising the great value of all the unpaid work and services that homemakers render to nurture their children and care for their parents.
Last but not least, I appeal to the Government to treat a single mother and her children as a "family nucleus" for Housing and Development Board (HDB) applications. Single parents face enormous struggles caring and providing for children. We should help them by providing a stable and safe environment for the children to grow up in. Accommodation is a basic necessity to ensure the safety and well-being of vulnerable children. Research has shown that stress in children has a negative impact on their developing brains, "with consequences, including cognitive deficits and emotional disorders, which, in turn, help perpetuate disadvantage." It is very unhealthy for these disadvantaged children to have to stay in overcrowded homes of their parents' friends or relatives, where they may not feel that they truly belong or embarrassed at having to do so. At the very least, with a roof over their heads, mothers will have one less worry and be able to focus more of their energies on their work to finance the expenses of the families.
Deputy Speaker, Sir, supporting and empowering our women will enable them to contribute more to their families, communities and country, and achieve their full potential. With women holding up half the sky, supporting the aspirations of our women is the most effective way to be future-ready.
PAPERCUTS