A key priority is to help retain women in the workforce by encouraging family-friendly policies
NTUC is committing to groom more women leaders in Singapore.
Women make up almost half the membership of unions affiliated to NTUC, yet they occupy only 33% of senior leadership roles in companies.
To push for gender parity, the labour movement said a key priority will be to help women remain in the workforce while fulfilling their caregiving roles.
To achieve this, NTUC will leverage their strong tripartite partnerships in transforming more workplaces into a family-friendly environment with:
Flexible work arrangements
Since the launch of the Tripartite Standards initiative in 2017, the labour movement has assisted many companies in its network in adopting the Tripartite Standards on Flexible Work Arrangements.
“As our workforce size is expected to shrink due to ageing population, employers must offer flexibility in work options to meet their manpower needs,” NTUC said in a statement.
“[Also] to continue tapping on the female talent pool, including the currently untapped pool of women caregivers at home.”
Caregiving support
The employment rate of female workers aged between 30 to 60 begins to decline as the focus of these group of women tends to shift towards childcare and caregiving needs.
To retain women in the workforce, NTUC said it is important for employers to support helping women manage their caregiving responsibilities through additional leave schemes and benefits.
As of February 2019, more than one-third of unionised companies provide at least one type of caregiving leave (for example, family care leave, eldercare leave or family sick leave).
“Given equal opportunities, we can advance hand in hand with our brothers to build a better society,” said Annabella Sim, the founding chairperson of NTUC’s Women’s Committee.
