A very good evening to everyone and Gong Xi Fa Cai,

First, I would like to thank Mdm Foo-Yee Shoon, Minister of State for the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports for taking time off from her busy schedule to be with us today at this launch of NTUC WISE – NTUC Women Interactive Series. A warm welcome also to all of you present here today.

The NTUC Women Interactive Series is a programme that is being launched today by the NTUC Women’s Development Secretariat. It will act as a platform to engage women on current issues, to apprise women of their rights and responsibilities under our laws both in employment and non employment related areas, and to increase networking among women. We will be doing this through a series of workshops, dialogue sessions and specific projects.

Indeed there are many issues of interest to women today. A major challenge facing us is a rapidly ageing population which has a special significance for women because we live longer than men but we also experience a longer period of ill health and disability in old age compared to men. As we live longer, the challenge is also to make sure that we have enough savings to take care of our medical needs as well as to provide us with a decent retirement income.

Unfortunately on both counts, the protection for women is weak and can be considerably improved. Therefore, I am very happy that the concerns of housewives have been given greater prominence in this budget in both the areas that I have mentioned. In healthcare, the Medisave top up of between $150 to $450 for those aged 51 and above, will benefit women because on the whole they have less savings than our male CPF members as they have not been working or have worked for far shorter periods. With this amount, they will now have additional resources to pay for their Medishield premiums, which are expected to go up with a more comprehensive coverage.

The other aspect of the budget of benefit to women is the CPF LIFE Bonus. If a CPF member contributes to the Minimum Sum of his spouse, he can claim a tax benefit of $7000. In addition, housewives too will benefit from the CPF LIFE bonus and if they do not have the minimum sum of $40,000, they will also get the bonus if their husbands top up for them so that they can participate in the scheme.

So, these are positive changes but they will benefit women only if their spouses top up their minimum sum accounts or cover them under the Medishield. These are the two subjects that WISE will be touching on in our dialogue sessions and outreach programmes with women and our union leaders. Our aim is to raise awareness and to encourage greater support for national schemes to help strengthen the retirement security and medical needs of our women. We will be kicking off these sessions in April and we will work closely with our affiliates and the MOH and CPF Board.

We can also help women to strengthen their retirement security and save more for their medical needs in old age by helping housewives to return to the workforce. Thus another major area of work of the NTUC Women’s Development Secretariat is the Back to Work programme for women which is now supported by the Flexi Works Fund. I would like to encourage more companies to come forward and apply for this fund which can be used to help them design part-time or flexi work for which they can get a maximum of $100,000 funding if they employ women above 35 years of age. Helping our women strengthen their retirement nest egg should become a stronger national imperative for all of us. At the same, time women must also help themselves by being proactive and taking advantage of the opportunities that we are creating for them. We will not be able to achieve much, if only employers are prepared to do the adjustments but women and their families are not prepared to change.

I would like to urge all our women leaders present here today to support and actively take part in our NTUC WISE series of programmes. There have been some significant changes under the law concerning women and these are some of the areas that we will be touching on through our talks on legal issues. We are kicking off with the first talk tonight on the Women’s Charter and we are indeed most happy to have with us Ms Foo Siew Fong, the President of the Singapore Association of Women Lawyers who will be covering some of the key areas under the Charter of importance to women.

On this note, let me conclude by once again thanking our guest of honour, Mdm Foo for her presence, our speaker, partners such as MCYS, WINGS and SCWO. Of equal importance, I want to thank all our affiliates for your support and for your strong presence here tonight.

Thank you.