Mr Alan Chan, Chief Executive Officer, SPH

Mr David Tay, Chief Executive Officer, SPH Magazines

Introduction

First, let me thank the organizers for inviting me to join you at this ceremony. Let me also say how much I admire their bravery in hosting this event, especially the panel of judges. Admiration would perhaps be an understatement. I wondered what would possess anyone, especially men, to abandon themselves into that perilous position to have to pick one woman among many to receive the top accolade. Were they not taught in school that women are biologically endowed with prodigious memories and that hell hath no fury like a woman scorned? In fact, to protect myself, I must quickly issue a disclaimer for being here and handing out the award tonight. Today’s winner notwithstanding, my own women of the Year would be my wife and mother – my wife on odd days, my mother on even. For parity, Sundays are excluded.

2          On a more serious note, let me add my congratulations to winners who will be announced later. Your many achievements and sterling qualities will serve as a useful role model for both men and women in Singapore.

3          In helping me draft this speech, my staff also proffered a litany of great women to cite to fit this occasion; I suppose as an acknowledgement that woman could rise to top echelons of leadership: US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice; China’s Vice-Premier Wu Yi, Ukraine’s Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, eBay’s Meg Whitman, and Xerox’s CEO Anne Mulcahy.  Time Magazine named Melinda Gates as 2005’s People of the Year.  And in November, the people of Germany voted their first woman Chancellor Angela Merkel into office.

The Expected Rise of Women

4          But I must confess that I have never been one of those who gets excited with such lists of able and powerful women. It is not that I don’t admire them – on the contrary – it’s just that I don’t see anything unusual about woman taking leadership roles. I view gender as irrelevant. What counts is aptitude and aspiration.

5          To me, it is a given that women will play an increasing role in all fields within Singapore. I say this with conviction because their trajectory has been set by the standards of educational attainment by present cohorts of female students. Already, female students make up slightly more than half[1] of our local university intake every year compared to 45.4% twenty years ago. At the polytechnic level, too, the proportion of female student intake has risen to about 48% in 2004, from just 30% twenty years ago.  Female students have excelled in academic areas, equal to and in some areas surpassing their male counterparts. It would be only a matter of time before they become increasingly involved in all spheres of society and decision making. The role of women will rise in Singapore and we should ponder the consequences that will follow and how society must adjust to this reality. It is this very trend and its impact on society which I would like to address tonight.

Investing in Women

6          First, to put equal resources investing in our women is from enlightened self-interest. It is an observable fact that societies progress fastest when equal opportunities are given to all groups within it. Societies in which woman are held back through lack of education or rights seldom flourish. Even totalitarian regimes, progress further when they educated their woman. Communist China is a classic example. From the 1920's, the nationalists started calling for women's rights. This was continued when Mao Tse-Tung and the Communist Party formally took over. Mao believed that gender equality could make China a world power and, in his time, he outlawed many old Chinese laws and traditions that were unfair to women. By law, women have equality in education, marriage, rights, and freedom.

7          The Nordic countries are another good example which has invested in their women. According to a study released in May 2005 by the World Economic Forum (WEF)[2], the Nordic countries, as the most gender-equal countries in the world, have reaped both social and economic benefits. The study, which examined the gap between women and men in economic opportunities, political empowerment, educational attainment etc, noted that the Nordic countries, by providing women with access to educational, political and work opportunities, also occupy privileged positions in the global competitiveness rankings.

8          Singapore also empowered its woman through education. Since the early days of independence, we were committed to providing both boys and girls with equal access to education. A study by the Department of Statistics showed that slightly over two-thirds of both male and female Singaporeans born in 1965 possessed secondary and above qualifications in 2000[3].

9          The effects of lifting educational standards of women are already beginning to work through society systemically. The Resident Employment Rate (ER) for Females aged 25-64 has risen steadily over the years from 52.7% in June 1994 to 58.6% in June 2004[4]. We have also seen an increase in women in the past 10 years in many occupations including administrative and managerial positions, technicians and associate professionals, clerical workers, service and sales workers. There are several companies in Singapore headed by female CEOs. We now have more women than we’ve ever had in Parliament - more will be brought in. There’s a group of young women who have been preparing since 2004 to be Singapore’s first all-woman team to scale the heights of Everest. 

10        As a nation that believes in and relies on human capital, we should celebrate these successes. But, as in most things, there are trade-offs and unforeseen consequences. While it is true that societies and knowledge-based economies advanced from educating women, an inescapable consequence is also its impact on marriages and children. World-wide, there is a strong correlation with the educational level of women in society and the rise of single-hood and declining fertility.

11        Singapore is no exception. For both men and women, single-hood rates, using rates for those aged 35-39 as a proxy, has roughly doubled from 1980 to 2004. In 2004, it is 20% for men and 16.4% for women. So, roughly 1 in 5 of every citizen is single. The implications of these trends on society now and in the future are of course wide ranging. It will impact the economic and social landscape as our population ages. But even before that, fertility trends have already echoed these effects. The resident Total Fertility Rate in 2004 was 1.24. The good news, if one is an optimist, is that it didn’t fall much compared to the 2003 figure of 1.25. So, it appears that the falling trend has been arrested and we all hope that the recent changes in our Marriage & Parenthood package will reverse the trend.

12        Some choose and find fulfillment in singlehood. We should respect their wishes and find ways to enhance their contributions to society and include them in our social and economic policies. Recently, we liberalized the use of CPF to allow non-related singles to jointly purchase private residential properties.

13        While we respect and value those who choose to be single, we should at the same time facilitate opportunities to help Singaporeans find their life partners. At face value, the facts and trends worldwide tell us that modernity is less compatible with life partnerships. This appears to be another inexorable feature of globalization.

14        There are many reasons for this. We should recognize that pressures related to education, work, career aspirations have crowded out socialization time and can impact lifestyle choices. Norms and expectations have also changed. I am told by the younger staff within my Ministry that a typical career minded Singapore male today aspires to have a degree, preferably another Masters, own a private condominium and a car, before he thinks of settling down. With the traditional mindset of the male as the main bread winner, all these aspirations may be daunting. Worse still, what if the girl he courts earns more than him or has progressed faster in her career?

15        Similarly, a successfully educated Singaporean woman has to juggle multiple goals to complete her studies, do well in her job and be expected to raise a family, and fulfill the traditional roles of mother and daughter. Is this at all possible?

16        Parents and the Government are not spared in this debate. What are their roles, if any, in helping others find partners? Hitherto, apart from SDU and other related agencies, we have left it to market forces.  Which means that, for many of us as parents, we assume our children know better – who to clique with in their social circles and what qualities to look for. But looking at raw data, it seems natural social forces have been found wanting. What roles do educational institutions, particularly institutes of higher learning, have in this, if any? Is there a role for Government to incentive the dating industry to bring in more market players and new ideas? Is the role of matchmakers needed in modern society?  What roles do parents have and how can they help?

17        What about civic and religious organizations? The information age has simply inundated us with a diversity of life choices. But in that competitive environment for ideas, who should stand up for traditional institutions which espoused abiding family values such loyalty, tolerance, faithfulness, friendship, even forgiveness through thick and thin?

18        Whatever the solutions, if any, men must first wise up to the fact that more women are financially and socially independent; therefore the terms of lasting relationships will have to be built on different fundamentals. None could have forecasted the tremendous impact it would have on established social structures and roles within society. But we must accept and adapt to this change. Society and men cannot expect women to single-handedly juggle multiple roles as homemakers, breadwinners, caregivers - often as parent, wife and daughter simultaneously. Even superwomen are human and have limits.

19        On this note, I join you in eagerly awaiting the announcement of Her World’s 2005 Woman of the Year.