~ SHE Supports launched by NTUC U Women and Family and SHE in celebration of International Women’s Day 2024 ~
Launch of SHE Supports to Empower and Uplift Women
Ahead of International Women’s Day, the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) U Women and Family (U WAF) launched SHE Supports, a new initiative in collaboration with SG Her Empowerment1 (SHE). SHE Supports is an expansion of U WAF’s Women Supporting Women (WSW) Mentorship Programme to empower and uplift women.
SHE Supports will offer resources such as legal clinics and training to support individuals looking to return to work, and those seeking to juggle caregiving responsibilities and work obligations. Another key feature of SHE Supports is its mentorship circles, which aims to bring women together on a regular basis to share experiences and learnings, encourage and uplift one another, and discuss topics relevant to their journeys as women and caregivers. The mentorship circles, which are an extension of the one-to-one mentorship offered through the WSW Mentorship Programme, will also harness the strengths of established women leaders, domain experts, and other resources to provide larger support for women.
The WSW Mentorship Programme was first piloted by U WAF in partnership with the Punggol Shore Constituency in 2020. U WAF launched the programme to support women in their professional development and personal growth by providing one-to-one mentorship opportunities with women leaders from various industries. The programme was later expanded to more than 14 constituencies. The WSW Mentorship Programme also partnered with Yayasan MENDAKI as part of their Women @ Work Programme. To date, 200 mentors have been recruited to support the WSW Mentorship Programme, which has benefitted over 180 women. U WAF’s latest collaboration with SHE is expected to benefit up to 1,000 women over the next two years.
SHE Supports was built in response to the conclusion of NTUC’s year-long #EveryWorkerMatters Conversations (#EWMC) in 2023, which revealed that balancing multiple responsibilities both at home and at the workplace was a top concern among workers. Through a series of engagements, #EWMC found that women workers were five times more likely than men to be managing housework and caregiving responsibilities in dual-income households, and nearly four times more likely to have left their jobs for caregiving than men2. As demand for caregiving increases, women – who already bear a disproportionate share of caregiving responsibilities – will be most impacted, facing additional strain. The findings from #EWMC underscores a pressing need to support caregivers in managing their dual responsibilities in caregiving and work. SHE Supports aims to provide relevant resources to support women and caregivers, thereby alleviating the load of caregiving.
NTUC Assistant Secretary-General and Director of U WAF Yeo Wan Ling said, “At NTUC U Women and Family, we aim to empower women workers to achieve their goals. Through our programmes, we have built an ecosystem to support them so that they can return to work while balancing responsibilities at home with a peace of mind. SHE Supports is a collaboration we are excited about because it brings in more resources to help women achieve their career goals. Expanding our WSW Mentorship Programme into mentorship circles is one where other professionals and lawyers join our union and grassroots mentors in supporting, guiding and mentoring our women returners. Through these efforts, we want to empower women to thrive in their diverse roles both at home and in the workforce.”
She added, “To-Gather: Power of Women is our way to extend help to build even stronger, healthier relationships with our Migrant Domestic Workers (MDWs) as we know that many women and caregivers are able to balance work and family commitments because of the strong relationships with their MDWs. We bring in even more resources and knowledge to make this happen with our partnership with Association of Employment Agencies (Singapore) and Centre for Domestic Employees.”
SG Her Empowerment Chairperson Stefanie Yuen Thio added, “We at SHE are thrilled to partner NTUC on SHE Supports. When women’s organisations work together, we can activate and empower even more people. Women have so much to share, and we want to support them in becoming their best selves, because that benefits everyone—both women and men.”
To-Gather: Power of Women
SHE Supports was launched at To-Gather: Power of Women, an event organised by U WAF. Held over two days from 2 March to 3 March 2024, the event was organised in conjunction with International Women’s Month and included a panel discussion with Ms Yeo Wan Ling, Assistant Secretary-General of NTUC, Director of NTUC U Women & Family; Ms Stefanie Yuen Thio, Chairperson, SG Her Empowerment; and Mr Edy Tan, PBM, Chief Executive Officer of Chye Thiam Maintenance Pte Ltd. The panel, which was moderated by NTUC Women’s Committee Co-Chairperson Ms Noorfarahin Bte Ahmad, discussed the empowerment, solidarity and strength of womanhood. The panellists also emphasised the collective efforts to better support women returners and caregivers in the workforce through incorporating flexible work arrangements and redesigning organisational work processes and culture.
To-Gather: Power of Women also featured a progressive career fair with seven employers offering over 1,000 flexible work and part-time positions for individuals and caregivers across 53 job roles. A pro bono legal clinic, hosted by SHE, was another feature at the event, and offered attendees guidance on their workplace or employment concerns. To support our caregivers at the event, childminding services as well as kids craft workshops were also available. Attendees were also invited to visit booths, which offered professional styling and makeover, as well as resources for women returners such as corporate wear donated by women professionals through SHE.
Additionally, MDWs were invited to participate in the To-Gather: Power of Women on 3 March. The programme will include activities to engage and equip them, and is the second iteration of Getting To-Gather!, which was first held on 21 January 2024.
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1 SG Her Empowerment, https://she.org.sg
2 #EveryWorkerMatters Conversations: Our Workers’ Compact Report 2023, p.55
