White Paper on Singapore Women’s Development: Carrie Tan on work and housing security for lower-income women

Lower-income women may find it harder to juggle work and caregiving because they cannot afford to hire help. Making the point in Parliament on Tuesday (Apr 5), MP Carrie Tan urged the Government to incentivise businesses to adopt innovative work allocation strategies for low-wage roles. These could include flexi-hours, flexi-shifts, shift swapping and compressed work weeks. The Government could also consider giving wage top-ups to workers with fewer care responsibilities to take shifts at times when home care is most needed - usually evenings and weekends. Ms Tan also spoke about the need to improve housing security for lower-income women. She called on the authorities to explore communal housing for single mothers and to extend rental subsidies for vulnerable families. Lastly, she said it is important to shift mindsets and normalise the idea of caregiving by both sexes. She suggested expanding the scope of National Service to include care vocations, enlisting both young men and women.