The Women’s Register: Matching the talents of women leaders to the needs of the community

By Joy Tan, Partner

Wong Partnership LLP

The struggles of women have been covered extensively through the years, from the Suffrage Movement of the 1920s to the rise of feminist philosophy in the 1960s and even continues today as “a right (under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women), although a few countries, mainly in the Middle East, continue to deny the right of many women to vote.1” But what can be said about the rise of women today, in both developed and emerging economies, is nothing short of phenomenal. The Economist reports that ‘…the increase in female employment in the rich world has been the main driving force of growth in the past couple of decades. Those women have contributed more to global GDP growth than have either new technology or the new giants, China and India. Add the value of housework and child-rearing, and women probably account for just over half of world output.”2 

But despite the incredible progress that women have made over the years, there is still a perennial imbalance of female representation in the professional and political arenas, as well as in senior management positions. Take Singapore for example, from 1970-1984, there was no female representative in parliament with the retirement of Madam Chan Choy Siong3. Presently, Singapore has 17 female PAP elected members, 3 NMPs and 1 NCMP4 but still none at Cabinet level. This under-representation occurs despite the narrowing gap in education where “younger females are as well-qualified as their male counterparts. In 2000, 81 per cent of females aged 25-34 years and 62 per cent of those aged 35-44 years had at least secondary qualifications... corresponding proportions for the males were 82 and 64 per cent.” Under-representation is also evident in administrative and managerial, professional and technical, sales and service occupations6. While it can be acknowledged that ‘...females in Singapore have made inroads into male-dominated occupations... female representation of women in higher skilled occupations still lagged that in the developed countries.”7

Singapore is highly regarded in the global economy, a developed nation, and one that has attained firstworld status yet still confronted by the empirical evidence for the disproportion of women leaders across a number of industries. The Women’s Register was thus conceived to help address this imbalance as there was no central resource for organisations in search of women talent, particularly in those in leadership positions. This project was undertaken by the Singapore Council of Women’s Organisations (SCWO), the national coordinating body of women’s organisations in Singapore. The primary objective of the Women’s Register is to increase the level of female representation in leadership positions in the public, private and non-profit sectors. Given that women make up half of the population in Singapore, it is vital that they are encouraged to participate in the community at all levels, especially in decisionmaking where their actions will secure the most impact. Conversely, organisations in these sectors can also gain access to a ready pool of female talent.

The Women’s Register can best be described as a secure and confidential online facility that invites all women who consider themselves as leaders to enter their educational and professional information together with their voluntary preferences into a central database via the Women’s Register website (www.womensregister.org).

It concentrates on 3 main areas, namely contribution at board level, mentoring and public speaking. It is not purely devoted to voluntary work as there are paid positions available as well. Registration is a mere S$10 for a lifetime membership while users are given a choice between an annual membership of $200 or a pay-per-search option. Non-profit organisations on the other hand, are charged only $20 for an annual membership where there is no limit to the number of searches.

It was officially launched on International Women’s Day on 08 March, 2007 by the Minister of State for the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS), Mrs. Yu-Foo Yee Shoon. Since then, the Women’s Register has gathered more than 300 professional and senior-level women in its database and approximately 30 organisation users. MCYS has been pivotal in the success of the launch of the Women’s Register, especially through the personal efforts of the Minister of State herself. Mrs Yu-Foo garnered support for the Women’s Register by connecting it to the National Volunteer & Philanthropy Centre (NVPC), which in turn through their New Initiative Grant programme, administered seed funding of S$94,000 for the start-up of the Women’s Register. This New Initiative Grant is a development fund for new and voluntary and/or philanthropic initiatives.

Apart from the opportunity to contribute to the community, women leaders can expect to receive enewsletters that informs of new and available voluntary and paid positions as well as discounted rates or even complimentary participation in workshops, forums and seminars eld by notable institutions, both local and foreign. Some past events include INSEAD’s “Best of Management for Women” seminar, Self Leadership International’s leadership seminars, “Strategic Leadership – Sun Tze Art of War” by Cornell Group Inc.and other workshops organised by the Singapore Institute of Management. Every quarter, the Women’s Register also organises a Members’ Night where members are invited to a social gathering for networking opportunities. Users that pay an annual fee are able to post on the Women’s Register website for free in addition to making unlimited searches for women leaders in their respective fields. They receive free publicity for events that they organise through email blasts and their website address can also be hyperlinked from the Women’s Register website.

The Women’s Register will be celebrating its first birthday with its parent organisation, SCWO who are hosting International Women’s Day through a Power Lunch dialogue that features top women leaders with Mrs Lim Hwee Hua, Minister of State for Finance and Transport, as its keynote speaker as well as an address by the United States Ambassador to Singapore, Ms. Patricia Herbold. This year, International Women’s Day succinctly gives tribute to the powerhousing of women in modern times, aptly themed “Women: Engines of Growth”. The audience will be able to participate and learn on how these women excelled and broke-free from gender stereotypes and the glass ceiling and managed to find the right work-life harmony at the same time. This event is open to the public and more information on the panellists can be found on the International Women’s Day website (www.iwd.org.sg).

As the Women’s Register continues to grow its base and fine-tune itself, it can only mean that the populaceat-large will surely benefit from this online resource that seeks to match the talents of women leaders with the needs of the community.

References:

1  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women’s_suffrage

2 The importance of sex, April 12^th 2006, The Economist print edition 3-4 Wong Aline and Leong W.K. (1993) Singapore Women: Three Decades Change. Singapore Times Academic Press. ISBN 981-210-031-8

List of Singapore MPs

5 Statistics Singapore publication – Higher Education Attainment. Last updated 30 Jun 2007

6-7Manpower Research and Statistics Department Singapore April 2000