Opening Speech by President Halimah Yacob at the SHE BRILLIANCE Inaugural Event

Ms Carrie Tan, Patron for SHE BRILLIANCE and MP for Nee Soon GRC

Ms Kim Underhill, Co-Founder of SHE BRILLIANCE

Ladies and Gentlemen

Thank you for inviting me to speak to you all this morning. From the presentations earlier, I can see that all of you hope to see and want to achieve empathetic leadership in yourselves. This is typically a woman’s trait as very often we try to put ourselves in other peoples’ shoes to address their concerns and help them fulfil their needs. It also allows us to create a different workplace - one that is more caring, supportive, compassionate and developmental. It is a pity that we have a shortage of senior leadership positions for women and we should have more of that.

I am pleased to launch this inaugural event of SHE BRILLIANCE, a ground-up movement to inspire women to lead purposeful lives and achieve both their professional and personal aspirations. As a well-known African proverb goes, “If you want to go far, go together”. Today’s event is a timely reminder of how important women are to our society and the power in coming together.

The Ministry of Social and Family Development has dedicated 2021 as the Year of Celebrating SG Women. The Year of Celebrating SG Women encourages all of us to come together as a community to take stock of the progress of our women, our society, and how we can continue to support these aspirations. Since our nation’s early years, women have played a pivotal role in improving every aspect of our society. Whether it is at work or at home, their contributions have been integral to the Singapore Story. We want to celebrate Singapore women’s multi-faceted roles across society, the key milestones we have achieved together and the men who help to debunk stereotypes, change mindsets, and play an active role in supporting and uplifting women.

In September last year, the Government launched the Conversations on Singapore Women’s Development as part of a broader Government effort to engage a wide range of Singaporeans, understand their aspirations for Singapore women and mindset changes required for the further advancement of Singapore women. The Conversations were concluded last month. During the year-long review, the Government received feedback and recommendations from nearly 6,000 participants across 160 Conversations. These will be consolidated into a White Paper and presented to Parliament early next year.  I am sure that if you have good views to contribute today, you can also share it with the Government.

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the norms of daily life, but our Singapore women have remained the beacon of resilience. They do everything they can to balance between caregiving duties at home and pursuing their careers. Many stoically shoulder on more responsibilities, whether in providing financial stability to their families or in providing support to family members and dealt with the attendant stress.  And many have done a great job in this. The pandemic has imposed more pressure on women, especially if they are the sole providers for the family. It is remarkable how they are dealing with the additional stress.

Nevertheless, such challenges would take a toll on anyone.  During the Conversations, the issues of better support for caregivers, many of whom are women, and more equal opportunities in the workplace, were shared by quite a number of the participants. For those who remain in the workforce, many may experience the ‘imposter syndrome’, grappling with feelings of self-doubt and inadequacy. The KPMG Women’s Leadership Summit Report 2020 found that 75 percent of female executives across industries have experienced the imposter syndrome in their careers. This points to the need to do more and take collective action to empower, protect and uplift women for greater progress. For instance, fathers can play a more active role at home and employers can support women at work so that they can fulfil their fullest potential both at work and at home.

Our efforts to support and uplift women must never stop. As a society, we have to imbibe the value of gender equality and mutual respect. Thus, I am heartened to know that SHE BRILLIANCE has built a supportive community of women in Singapore since it started in September this year. This community has experienced members providing mentorship and sharing their knowledge. Just like an ecosystem, strong connections between mentors and mentees will build up not only individuals, but also the community. If you have something to share, mentoring is one of the best ways to give back and help shape someone’s future.

The interactive workshops and peer-to-peer learning structure here today will provide participants with the right tools to lean in on one another. It is important that we continue to build on this ecosystem of women empowering each other and helping them to realise their full potential.

Mentoring programmes help women build social capital by enabling them to develop useful connections and relationships.  This will open doors and provide valuable experience and productive feedback, and help these women grow in their career and access better opportunities. Generally, women lack the kind of formal and informal networks that are more freely accessible to men for whatever reasons, and this has limited their prospects and ability to fulfil their potential. Very often, they have young children or frail parents they have to care for at home, and hence inhibit the ability to build formal and informal networks. Often women are seen as a homogenous group, but they are not.  Women face challenges that are unique to each one of them. Women with young families or frail, elderly parents struggle with caregiving duties that affect their ability to fully concentrate on their careers unless they have access to effective caregiving arrangements while they are at work. The tremendous increase in childcare places over the years have greatly helped women with young children. Women may also face the challenge of lack of skills or competencies required for jobs in the growth sectors.  Those who are re-entering the workplace may struggle to find the right fit.  It can be difficult to re-join the workforce if one has left it for many years. You will need someone to help you find your abilities and competencies.

A more gender-neutral workplace where people are assessed strictly on their abilities and competencies is clearly a given in this effort to create a more equal society that will benefit all women. Mentoring programmes allow such issues to be sliced more thinly and women could benefit from the personalised engagement with their mentors.

I am happy to announce that all profits from today’s event will go towards the Daughters of Tomorrow (DOT) charity. DOT has supported more than 1,000 beneficiaries in skills training and job searches since 2014. Today’s event will help support more women towards greater financial independence and social mobility.

Empowering women to provide sustainable care for themselves and their families, will go a long way in helping them regain their confidence, create better lives for their children and break out of the poverty trap.

Let me conclude by commending SHE BRILLIANCE for rallying the community together. This inaugural event celebrates the strong and capable women who have gathered to share their rich experiences. As mothers, wives, employees, and business owners – many have shattered glass ceilings or forged their own paths – with the same indomitable spirit of excellence and resilience. Let us work together to build a more equitable and inclusive society for everyone.

I wish everyone a fruitful and meaningful event. The best is yet to come.

Thank you.