Familiar face returns to head women's group

9 April 2007

Straits Times

THE new president of women's activist group Aware is a familiar face - she is Mrs Constance Singam, who will be serving her fifth term as the president.

Mrs Singam, 69, will be returning to a position she first held at the Association of Women for Action and Research 20 years ago.

The ex-polytechnic lecturer said she was delighted when she was asked to stand for election.

'It's a huge compliment. People usually treat older people as irrelevant.'

Ms Corrina Lim, the honorary secretary from the previous exco, said Mrs Singam was chosen not because of a dearth of fresh talent, but because she is highly respected and would command the support of members as Aware reinvents itself.

Mrs Singam also admitted that younger women might find it hard to commit to the role of president because they have their careers to think of. As a retiree, she would not have such a dilemma.

She will have her work cut out for her.

Aware, which has more than 400 members, wants to review its constitution, which has not been looked at since the association was launched in 1986.

Ms Lim said Mrs Singam's experience and 'good pulse on the trend in Singapore' will help the constitutional review.

'Of all the ex-presidents, Mrs Singam is the most in touch with the programmes, and knows what Aware is about and the direction it needs to take,' she said.

Mrs Singam also plans to formalise the Aware Training Institute, which runs classes that teach financial independence to men and women, and workshops that explain gender stereotypes to the youth.

The programmes are now conducted by volunteers and on an ad-hoc basis.

Mrs Singam wants to have two paid staff running the institute and at least two trained staff per programme.

There are six programmes under the institute now. She hopes to continue holding some on a quarterly basis, while others can be on demand.

She also wants to move away from the organisation's focus on women abuse victims, to reach out to more people.

The organisation, which runs a telephone helpline, has been getting calls not just from women who have been abused by their partners, but also from married women stressed out by the twin duties of caring for their own families and their ageing parents.

Mrs Singam said the problem lies with gender stereotyping.

'We shouldn't make assumptions about who ought to be responsible for caring for ageing parents. Both men and women can be caregivers because both have the ability,' said Mrs Singam.

By addressing such gender stereotypes, she hopes to educate the public through talks like life-in-a-box, and eventually, lead to the implementation of policies that are 'gender- aware'.

'It's all about altering the perspective,' she said.

'We want to provide women's perspective on issues, not just women's issues.

'And we want to look at these stereotype roles and how that affects both men and women.'

EXPANDING THE FOCUS

'We want to provide women's perspective on issues, not just women's issues.' MRS CONSTANCE SINGAM, on reinventing Aware's role