Speech by President Halimah Yacob at Women Forum Asia

Distinguished guests,

Ladies and gentlemen,

I am pleased to join you at the second edition of Women’s Forum Asia today. To all delegates who have travelled afar to join us, welcome to Singapore.

Building on the success of Women’s Forum Singapore last year, the Women’s Forum Asia aims to be a platform for us to create meaningful change for women in Asia and beyond, by exploring and redefining the concepts of inclusion and diversity, and shedding light on women’s leadership.

Increasing women’s participation in the economy and representation in leadership positions benefits not just women, but also companies and society. A McKinsey study in 2018 predicts that all countries in Asia Pacific could add US$4.5 trillion to annual GDP in 2025, or 12 percent above business as usual, if we improve gender equality. In a separate International Finance Corporation study done with more than 1,000 Asian firms, companies whose boards were made up of at least 30 percent females generated more income from their assets than those with all-male boards. Increasing women’s participation in both work places and corporate boards therefore presents a strong business case.

Singapore takes pride in supporting gender equality, and we stand ready to work with global and regional corporations in Singapore to rally behind gender diversity, champion women’s voices, and support women in leadership.  It is encouraging that women in Singapore are increasingly taking on leadership positions across the public, private and people sectors. Women representation on boards among the top 100 primary-listed companies on Singapore Exchange has doubled in the past four years. Companies such as ComfortDelGro, SBS Transit and SATS, which were already supportive of board gender diversity, have further added women directors in recent years.

Our society has been built on principles of meritocracy and equal opportunity for all.  To this extent, organisations in Singapore must continue to embrace diversity in leadership positions, which has been shown to lead to positive impact on business profitability, a more robust corporate governance, as well as fresh and innovative perspectives.

The journey towards diversity is an ongoing one. I am therefore glad that through the Women’s Forum, we will have the opportunity to address some salient challenges of gender inclusion and seek ideas to spark change. I am also glad that this Forum will be an opportunity to acknowledge the many women in Singapore whose contributions have made significant impact in their respective fields and helped to uplift and support other women. We are proud of their achievements and contributions to our economy and community. 

In this regard, I would like to draw attention to a few areas that I feel have potential for more women participation. 

First, entrepreneurship.  Women in entrepreneurship remains a key hallmark of Asian economies. Singapore is ranked third in the Asia-Pacific in fostering growth for women entrepreneurs. One of our trailblazing women entrepreneurs is Yvon Bock, founder of sustainable and high quality baby feeding product company Hegen. Within just four years, Hegen has already expanded into 10 countries regionally and is expecting to be in more than 35 countries by 2020.

Second, science and technology.  Science remains a critical and prolific field in Singapore. Yet, it is a common misconception that women do not do well in this area.  I think we need to change that. Singapore has seen 25% more women research scientists and engineers in 2017 compared to 2012. One such example is Dr Juliana Chan, who is also founder and Editor-in-Chief of The Asian Scientist magazine. What started as Dr Juliana’s personal blog in 2011 flourish into the foremost print publication, highlighting research and development news stories in Asia to a global audience.

Singapore is honoured to play host to these continued conversations on women’s voices and perspectives. Over the next three days, distinguished speakers from Asia and all over the world, will lend their voices to highlight opportunities, and spotlight issues to drive diversity in organisations and the wider community. I am glad that the Forum is one of the platforms for such conversations to take place.

In closing, let me thank Women’s Forum for facilitating these conversations, which I hope will generate more good ideas to empower women in society and the economy. I look forward to our collective efforts towards elevating women’s leadership and role for a better future.

I wish everyone a fruitful conference. Thank you.