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Empowering women in Singapore through business

Dr Biz • Oct 05, 2020

Women in Singapore enjoy one of the most encouraging environments for female entrepreneurs in Asia, with the city ranked highly in areas like technology when it comes to the representation of women. The last election also saw an impressive 27 female ministers elected to parliament, an increase from 21 in 2015 and bringing the percentage of women in government up to 29% - very close to Singapore’s target for 30% female ministers set by Unesco in 1990.

In our women in business blog series, we have covered the many inspiring stories of women in Singapore, including the business leaders that have founded successful start-ups that address women’s issues such as caring for elderly parents, raising children and finding business funding. We have even featured the many studies that show that women statistically make better bosses and leaders than men (it seems that honesty is the key!).

However, among this celebration of female talent it is important to remember that women still have a long way to go to reach complete equality in Singapore, and also around the world. This was underlined only last week through the announcement that the government will undertake a comprehensive review of issues that affect women, which aims to bring about a “mindset change” on values like gender equality and respect for women.

The announcement follows some high profile attacks on women, including the case of a 23-year-old student who assaulted his girlfriend because she refused to get back together with him, after which he received just a five day sentence. Speaking to the Straits Times, Minister for Home Affairs and Law K. Shanmugam said that, in the future, cases such as these should not be seen just as a crime, but a violation of Singapore’s “fundamental values.” He added: "The starting point should be that this should not have happened. No excuses, period."

Women in Singapore at work

As well as addressing fundamental rights and liberties for women in Singapore, the government’s review will also look at how women are treated differently at work and in the office, and where changes can be made. This is a very important issue for women, as a proven route to equality has typically been employment. Finding an independent source of income, as well as purpose and value outside of the home has historically been the driving force of women’s liberation, helping to boost economies and enrich the lives of society.

Equality in the workplace is of particular importance in Singapore due to the higher proportion of women now representing Singapore in parliament. In contrast, in the business world the City-State’s 100 biggest companies have just 16% female participation, falling well behind the government Diversity Action Committee target for 20% women in business now, and 30% by 2030. Women is Singapore, like women all over the world, still face strong discrimination when it comes to an assessment of their professional abilities, with beliefs shaped by the gender roles historically performed in certain parts of society that have seen women stay at home to raise children, and men go out to work.

Breaking unconscious bias

While sometimes active and viscous, such biases against women in the workplace are often unconscious, with a recent study from the University of Exeter in the UK suggesting that even having more women in a sector doesn’t create less bias. This conclusion came from a review of the veterinary sector, which now has a high proportion of female representation. As part of the study 252 managers of mixed gender were given an identical performance review of a junior vet, with half told the report was for a male and the other half told it was for a female. The managers gave higher scores and salary increases to the reports that were given a male name.

Even in sectors like retail, fashion and beauty where women typically take a higher interest than men, and indeed hold more jobs in lower-paid roles, females are underrepresented at the corporate level all over the world. In Europe, for example, only 3% of the 87 biggest retail and consumer brands are led by women, while in the UK not one retail company among the country’s 350 largest firms is run by a woman. For women in Singapore, female participation on the boards of consumer companies is currently 15% (numbers are not given for female CEO’s specifically).

The business world clearly has a long way to go to reach anything like gender equality, however with awareness growing at a rapid pace and government initiatives aimed at tackling the fundamental causes of gender bias underway, there is more hope than ever. In the words of Shanmugam, in order for women in Singapore to take their rightful place in the business world, we must think “not in differentials, then seeing what can be done about that. We must instead start with accepting equality, and any differential treatment then has to be justified.”

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