Over the past decade, women have become more active participants in Singapore’s labour force. But participation still takes a dip when women reach their 30s and 40s—often the age when family responsibilities peak. Recent data from the Ministry of Manpower’s 2024 Labour Force Survey shows that among residents who exited the workforce mainly due to caregiving, 56.5% cited childcare as the main reason, especially for children aged 12 and below. Strikingly, 95.1% of these caregivers were women. Most of them were 40 or younger, and 65.8% held tertiary qualifications—44.5% even had degrees.
While 81% of these women were not seeking to return to work at the time of the survey, the tide is slowly shifting. Many now believe they can—and should—pursue both career and family goals. The pandemic’s global experiment with flexible working proved that balance is possible. Enhanced maternity benefits and parental leave policies have also made it easier for women to remain in the workforce. As women’s presence and influence in the labour force grow, both businesses and the government will need to continue evolving policies to support working women meaningfully.
Today, women are getting married and having children at a later age than previous generations. This means they have more financial stability before starting a family. It also means that their professional responsibilities are generally bigger and more demanding at the moment that they choose to have kids. This creates an inner tug-of-war for women, one that is difficult to resolve. How can you balance managing a home and managing a job?
It’s not just the internal struggle. Women need to fight against perceptions in the workplace, too. It’s not uncommon to hear female employees keeping pregnancies a secret because they think it will affect their prospects for advancement or promotion. Women often fear that their being a mum leads people to think they won’t be as available for important, high-profile projects. While a ‘mummy track’ exists in the corporate world, not every mother wants to be on that track.
Even if one gets to avoid the mummy track and goes about business as usual, there are moments when a mother needs to take time off for a child-related emergency. Leaving early to fetch the kids or taking time off is often met with some judgment from colleagues, whether real or perceived. This has implications on employee well-being, motivation, and productivity.
A woman’s decision to have children and continue working also has real-world financial implications. Similar to labour force participation rates, a gender pay gap surfaces around the age women start bearing children. According to the MOM, this pay gap appears in the 30s, and often continues for the rest of a working woman’s life.
Conditions are even worse for mums that choose to take a break and leave the workforce for a while. While finding a job after a sabbatical is already tough, reentering the labour market as a mum proves to be extra challenging. Anecdotal evidence points towards a wariness of employers towards hiring mothers, as they think mums will continually take time off work using childcare leave. By law, mothers are entitled to take these days off, but some managers don’t necessarily like it. Having a CV gap also brings about a harder pay gap to overcome.
Even entrepreneurship takes a hit. Women make up just a little over a quarter of all business owners in Singapore. While there are more male entrepreneurs now than there were in previous years, the number of new female entrepreneurs have been dropping yearly.
All these factors surrounding women in the workforce trickle down into a well-documented reality–only one-third of all business leadership roles in the country are held by women.
With all the abovementioned hurdles, it’s no surprise that there are fewer women than men in the workplace. But not having women in the workforce and running businesses is creating a lost opportunity.
According to a McKinsey Global Institute research, getting more women into the workforce can mean a net growth of S$26 billion to the country’s GDP. If the country gets as many female-owned businesses as male-owned businesses, Singapore can see as much as S$95 billion more in its economy. Getting more women working and running businesses presents huge economic potential, one whose effects will trickle down to all levels of society.
It’s essential to get women to work and bring them into positions that can make a difference. The same report from McKinsey has shown that diverse management teams tend to outperform on profitability and value creation. Companies in the top quartile for gender diversity on executive teams are 39% more likely to experience above-average profitability compared to those in the bottom quartile. These leading companies also have better earnings compared to peers. All these differences are especially pronounced when supported by strong female participation in the labour force.
The numbers back it up – supporting female workers and entrepreneurs results in greater value creation across the entire economy and society. So how do we get there?
One reason why women in Singapore struggle to become more active in the workforce is due to traditional Asian beliefs about gender roles. Women are often expected to take care of domestic matters first, then professional matters second.
Changing mindsets requires that the conversation moves from just policy and practice into values and beliefs. From a young age, children need to be taught gender equality to #BreakTheBias. This takes time and a lot of intentionality. In the shorter term, though, fostering conversations on gender equality across demographics can create safe spaces for women to speak up and engage more actively. Companies can also start creating environments that empower women to go beyond traditional gender roles.
As women become more involved in the workforce, society and businesses need to adapt and do away with the stigma associated with being a working mom or a working woman. Below are some actionable ways companies can support women.
Providing access to training, funding opportunities, and network connections will help more women take the leap into entrepreneurship. However, more structural changes to the business ecosystem are also needed to further bolster female participation in business. Large multinationals, banks and financial institutions, governments, and NGOs can all do their part by creating support programmes and financing mechanisms that favour women. For example, UOB was featured in the 2021 Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index (GEI) for the third consecutive year for its commitment to maintaining an inclusive workplace. Ample and equal opportunities were given to women employees to climb the career ladder.
Creating structural change to support working women is a huge task but not impossible. The government has started doing its part by facilitating conversations around gender roles. Companies are pitching in by providing systems that allow for more flexible working. Work-life balance can be had if everyone rallies behind the cause. This is true not just for employees but for entrepreneurs, too.
If you are an aspiring entrepreneur, numerous resources are available to help you overcome hurdles and get your dreams off the ground. Check out UOB FinLab’s Digitalisation Innovation Programme: Womenpreneurs to find out more.
UOB FinLab Indonesia held a series of its UKM SUKSES programmes, benefitting various Indonesian founders. The programme covered various topics such as smart tax strategies, health talks, business solutions, and financial foundations for startups alongside speakers who are experts in their field.
Continuing from last year, #UOBxWomenpreneurs series returns in 2025, organised by Business Banking Singapore (BBS), UOB FinLab, and Group Wholesale and Markets Marketing (GWMM) to engage and empower women entrepreneurs in Singapore. The initiative creates a strong platform for women-led businesses to access practical resources, mentorship, and a supportive network as they grow and lead with confidence.
Uncover how Singapore’s AI Strategy aand UOB FinLab’s hands-on support are turning ambition into action for SMEs.
Designed for business owners to enhance their digital capabilities through practical learning, this programme takes businesses to the next level.
Designed for business owners to enhance their digital capabilities through practical learning, this programme takes businesses to the next level.
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