Joint seminar touches on challenges facing today’s woman

The idea was to highlight the challenges facing the women in today’s Singapore society. The seminar on “Today’s Woman; Evolving Roles and Responsibilities” on 15 October 2005 at RECL Singapore certainly achieved that.

More than 80 people from all walks of life, including some brave men, attended the joint YSA and Youth@AWARE seminar which was geared to examining the changing roles of the women in Singapore society and ways in which women can play an active, leadership role in our society. At the same time, the seminar looked at how the society can play a supporting role in helping women live a balanced and enriching life at home and at the workplace.

The participants had the opportunity to hear the views of a distinguished panel of speakers. They included Dr Chitra Sankaran from the Department of English Literature and Language at National University of Singapore, Ms Dana Lam, Past President, Association of Women for Action & Research (AWARE) & Writer and Artist, and Dr Berinderjeet Kaur, from the National Institute of Education at Nanyang Technological University. Together, the speakers looked at issues of stereotypes and perception, leadership and empowerment as well as the role and responsibility of women within the Sikh community.

The panel discussion was followed by a lively and interesting discussion on the role of the woman in today’s society. Many agreed that, whilst there was progress made in this regard, much more needed to be done to fully recognise the importance of their role in today’s society.

Well, that’s some food for thought for the male folks!