News

NTUC Women’s Development Secretariat (WDS), in collaboration with the PAP Women's Wing, held a dialogue session for about 100 women leaders and activists on 30th Jan 2010 (Sat) at the MDIS UniCampus. The dialogue serves as a platform for women to share their feedback and views on issues related to employment and family/social support.



Mrs Lim Hwee Hua, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office and Second Minister for Finance & Transport, chaired the panel discussion. The other 4 panelists included lady MPs Halimah Yacob, Josephine Teo, Dr Lily Neo and Mdm Ho Geok Choo.



At the session, participants discussed on various issues such as surviving the crisis, maintaining a balanced worklife, the challenges faced by the sandwiched class as well as the impact of globalization on women.



In addition, PAP Women’s Wing launched its new website (womenswing.pap.org.sg) at the occasion and NTUC WDS also revealed its findings on an informal survey that was done among 300 married female employees to find out the impact of the economic crisis on women.



From the survey results, generally Singaporean women have coped well during the crisis. While 57% faced a higher level of stress at work during the crisis, they still found it to be manageable. Close to 60% indicated that they still had sufficient time for family and could pursue personal commitments after work. Although 44% had some income instability, they do not seem to be suffering from financial hardships. 67% also revealed that they had to cut back on expenditure, but it’s mostly on non-essential items such as eating out and travel/leisure activities.