A national and business imperative to make gender diversity a reality

Mrs Mildred Tan Advisory Managing Partner, EY

Distinguished Guests

Ladies and Gentlemen

1. Thank you for this opportunity. It is really my pleasure to be here today at EY’s Women Fast Forward Forum 2015.

2. I am glad to see many senior business leaders present here, gathered for this important theme of gender diversity and female leadership in the workplace. First I am going to talk about topic that is seemingly unrelated to the topic today, and that is ageing.
   

Women - A pillar of growth in rapidly ageing Asia

3. Developed countries are ageing rapidly, and especially in Asia, where the size of the population aged 65 and above is projected to reach 922 million by the middle of this century. This sets Asia on track to become the oldest region in the world in the next few decades.

4. Japan is one such country. Its population has been ageing rapidly and shrinking since 2004. It is both ageing and low fertility rate that causes a shrinking population. Today, about one in four of Japan’s population is aged 65 and above. You may not see that in Tokyo but I think if you move out into the suburb, you probably would have a more realistic picture of the demographic situation there. By 2030, one in three Japanese will be a senior citizen. Japan’s already small working-age population is expected to shrink from 61% of total population today to 58% by 2030. Now, I am using Japan as an example for a very simple fact that Japan is just ahead of Singapore by about two decades. We are facing the same demographic challenges – the underlying factors are similar, so Japan provides a very useful example of what Singapore could be 20 years down the road.

5. So in response to the ageing demographics, Japan has put women at the heart of her strategy to revive her economy. I think many of you would have known about Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s Abenomics but there is also a Womenomics, one of the three eras. He has committed to a society in which “all women can shine”, and set a target of 30% female leadership representation nationwide by 2020. I had the privilege of attending the conference in 2014. The Prime Minister spent close to two days amidst a very tight schedule to spend time with women leaders – both leaders from Japan across various sectors as well as overseas. And I think he’s trying to use women leaders in a way as a role model for the Japanese women. And just two months ago, Japan introduced a new legislation requiring companies with more than 300 employees to set targets on the percentage of female hires and managers. These targets and current ratios must be made public from April next year. According to Goldman Sachs, raising the female labour force participation rate to 80% is estimated to boost Japan’s economy by almost 13%. I recall feeling very good at this meeting and thereafter, not only because it was good to see the Japanese PM giving so much support, but from being affirmed on the importance of women on the future of the society – both economically and socially. In a way, what Japan is doing, gives us confidence in what we are doing in Singapore, and the position that I was championing myself. It’s quite interesting to see how various components are mirroring each other, about providing more childcare and so on.

6. Singapore faces a similar demographic challenge as Japan – our citizen population is ageing rapidly due to the twin effects of increasing life expectancy and low birth rates. By 2030, the number of citizens aged 65 and above would double to about 900,000. Today, for every citizen retiring, there will be 1.4 citizens entering the workforce. So from an employer’s point of view you are probably not feeling any stress because you should be able to recruit the number to replace the retiring population. That is a very simplistic way of looking at data. If you look at the quality of the people that are retiring and entering, they are obviously different – the different level of education, experience and so on. So that’s another topic for another day. Just looking at numbers, the economy would be able to grow because there is a higher number of people entering the workforce compared to those that are retiring. Now fast forward to 2030 and you will see quite a different picture. The second peak is now retiring and at that peak we are talking about 258,000 workers that are retiring compared to 171,000 that are entering. So for every citizen exiting the workplace, we have about 0.7 that is entering the workplace. So just looking at numbers itself, it tells you that we have a demographic challenge on our hands. It’s a demographic issue, an economic issue and a manpower issue.

7. Singapore’s growth strategy is to increase productivity so that Singaporeans can enjoy quality jobs and sustained good wages. At the same time, we have to find ways to raise our labour force participation rates, especially of women and seniors, to boost our local workforce. So in a way, the new frontier for workforce – for participation, for talent – is actually in the women’s sector and the seniors’ sector.

8. Japan’s Womenomics is of great relevance to Singapore. Women will be the next engine of growth as they play an ever important role at home and in the workplace. And if we in Singapore can improve labour force participation rate from 59% today to 76%, which is the average participation rate for men, we could increase our local labour force by 13%.

9. Therefore, the importance of keeping women in the work place cannot be over emphasised. Neither can the importance of getting women married and to have children. No children means no future local workforce. So, we need to support women to have both a family and a career, and not to have to choose between them. So let me make this very clear – this is not a women’s issue. This is a Singapore issue – an economic competitive issue.
   

Supporting women in workplace and home

10. How should we support them in the workplace? First, cultivating a pro-family work environment. We have enhanced our support to families progressively over the years, including longer paid maternity leave, enhancing childcare support, and introducing paternity leave to encourage greater shared parental responsibility. Funding is also available to encourage companies to roll out flexible work arrangements. The corporate sector must instil the right corporate culture and push for greater use of family-friendly programmes to make it work. A pro-family culture does not mean a weaker or less serious corporate culture. It is a change of mindset to one that is about having our HR processes and policies wrap around the needs of the employees throughout their life stages.

11. Second, we must encourage a more gender equal society where everyone, both men and women, plays an equally important role in the workplace and at home. This point about a more gender equal society and the previous point about having a pro-family corporate culture is the nexus between our demographic and manpower challenges and the issue of women in leadership. We need a more gender equal society. Women in leadership – in senior management and boards – is actually not just a numbers game, or for a self-serving purpose. A meaningful representation of women in leadership positions sends a strong signal that the company values women’s contribution and views and is genuine in wanting to cultivate a more women-friendly work environment, whether in recruitment and appointments, training and development or overseas postings. Improving gender representation in leadership positions also helps to inject diversity in the decision-making process, enabling a more robust decision and outcome, including putting in place appropriate human resource policies to harness talent in women. So the frontier for competition for labour is in the women sector. And how the coporates compete for talent in that sphere will in turn determine the relative success of your company in the future. And in order to do that, it will ring very hollow if you go out there with a great recruitment team to say that we want women to join our workforce, and only to see that at the top layer, at the boards, at the C-level, we have no women inside.

12. Hence, my call to all board directors and senior management, especially women who are holding positions at the level. You have an important role to play in making your company more supportive of women’s twin goals of having a career and a strong family. You have the responsibility to advocate for women, and harness their untapped potential for the interests of your company, and for the long term good of Singapore. Because you are there not just serving a function. We need you to be there to advocate for change. We have less than two decades to meet those challenges and it has to be now to change the corporate culture, the societal culture. So we need strong advocates.

13. Beyond the workplace, a more gender equal society must be supported by an ecosystem, where every member of the society celebrates and values family. This includes employers, supervisors, colleagues, friends and family members. Strong families will buttress a cohesive and stable society, and allow us to progress.
    

Conclusion

14. In closing, I would like to stress that gender equality is not a female issue, nor is it aimed at giving women special treatment. Rather, it is about “levelling the playing field” so that the responsibility of raising a child falls more evenly on both men and women, on both husband and wife. It is about supporting our loved ones – our wives, daughters, nieces, and friends – to be able to fulfil their career aspirations while enjoying quality family life.

15. Singapore faces the challenge of a rapidly ageing and shrinking population, and many adjustments are needed now, including more childcare facilities, and more support for families with young children. While we have made progress, we can collectively do more to promote gender equality in businesses, across the entire spectrum of jobs and leadership positions. The corporate sector has an important role to play, and this change has to start from the top.

16. Thank you, EY, for providing a platform to spur a healthy exchange of best practices and ideas, and renew our joint commitment to promote gender diversity and leadership in the workplace.

17. Thank you very much for your attention.