Singapore’s Halimah, other Asian women leaders stress gender equality at SCMP conference

The city state’s first woman president, the keynote speaker at the ‘Women of Our Time’ conference, warned of deepening vulnerabilities during Covid-19

Halimah joined the Philippines’ Delia Domingo Albert, Yum China CEO Joey Wat and others in calling for a gender-balanced society and workplaces

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Singapore President Halimah Yacob said countries should prioritise gender equality in their policymaking. Photo: SCMP

Published: 10:21pm, 9 Mar 2021Updated: 11:10am, 10 Mar 2021

Countries around the world have a duty to prioritise gender equality among their policy mandates and overcome slow progress on the issue through greater “political will”, Singapore President Halimah Yacob told a South China Morning Post-sponsored conference marking International Women’s Day.

In underlining the urgency of the matter, Halimah said that women had become even more vulnerable during the coronavirus pandemic because many work in hard-hit services sectors and struggle to take care of their children’s educational needs while schools and day care centres are closed.

The virtual “Women of Our Time” conference on Monday and Tuesday heard first-hand insights from more than 30 women leaders from the worlds of diplomacy, business and civil society on how to achieve greater diversity and inclusiveness.

Halimah, Singapore’s first woman president, said there was a pressing need to change mindsets about gender stereotypes and traditional gender roles in society, judging from the feedback the Singapore government had received while developing a white paper on the issue.

Such a change “is probably the most difficult to [achieve], as you cannot legislate [it] but need to continuously educate and engage to encourage more positive social norms and behaviours,” Halimah said during the conference’s keynote speech.

She said Singapore was attempting to effect change on the matter in part through declaring 2021 the “Year of Celebrating Singapore Women” and saluting the “milestones” in women’s issues that have been seen in the city state.

She added: “We will also celebrate men who helped to debunk stereotypes, change mindsets and play an active role in supporting and uplifting women.”

Yum China CEO Joey Wat said her company was working to remove biases in the workplace. Photo: sina.com