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AWARE recommends free childcare, stronger workplace protection and financial incentives to help low-income mothers break out of poverty

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6 years ago

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To help break low-income mothers out of poverty, gender equality group AWARE recommends that low-income households should have access to free good quality formal childcare; the State should put in place a robust employment protection for casual workers and enforceable prohibitions against workplace discrimination; and it should enhance its ComCare and Workfare Income Supplement Scheme to make low-wage work pay more.

Findings from AWARE’s latest report, “Why are you not working?”: Low-income mothers explain challenges with work and care, found that low-income mothers bear the brunt of financial instability, as they shoulder most of their family’s caregiving needs and face penalties when they try to access, engage, and stay in paid work. The report examines the structural barriers that 47 low-income mothers faced when trying to access formal childcare and stable work.

Respondents cited in the report were beneficiaries of Daughters of Tomorrow (DOT), a non-profit organisation that provides employment bridging support to low-income women looking for work.

Said Corinna Lim, Executive Director of AWARE, “There is growing attention paid to how inequality affects families in Singapore. When we talk about inequality, we need to especially look at how mothers, as caregivers, are impacted.”

“Our findings show how mothers from low-income households are constrained by inadequate formal childcare, and prevailing working conditions that do not offer decent jobs. This has wide-reaching consequences on their lives and the next generation’s financial security.”

The report found that many mothers dealt with long waiting lists and no vacancies at subsidised childcare centres in their areas.

“Finding childcare for my youngest child was difficult, and took some time. I had no choice but to leave her at home to go to work. The childcare centres around my area did not have vacancies, or I had to wait a long time,” said Rosilah, a respondent of the study.

Some respondents reported abuse and low quality of care, but felt they did not have the right to lodge complaints or choose their centre because they were subsidised.

To address this, one of AWARE’s recommendations is that families who are able to show a household income of $2500 or less will automatically qualify for free formal childcare, instead of going through the current administratively onerous case-by-case system.

Said Ms. Lim, “Making childcare free for families struggling financially is only a small part of the equation. We also need to do more to make work genuinely decent.”

Many respondents work as casual workers and are not protected by employment legislation because of its limited scope or incorrect classification of their contract. Some employers also deny employees CPF and leave benefits or unlawfully sack them. For example, Rosilah experienced pregnancy discrimination by a former employer, who dismissed her when she was in her third trimester because the employer did not want to be liable for her getting hurt at work while pregnant.

Said Julie (not her real name), a respondent of the study, “People don’t understand how important [flexibility] is for us [as mothers]. When your kids are sick, your kids are sick. You just want to drop everything and just run to them. To have supportive employers is amazing.”

Said Ms. Lim, “To systematically enable low income mothers – with limited care support – to have options for work, we can’t just depend on the kindness of employers. We need to broaden and strengthen our worker protection regime by implementing anti-discrimination legislation, extending appropriate benefits and rights to casual workers, and stricter enforcement of all
worker protection obligations.”

Finally, the report argues the need to make work pay better. Many of the respondents’ families, even with two persons working, did not earn enough from work to meet the ComCare threshold for public assistance.

AWARE recommends the introduction of systematic (not discretionary) financial incentives for work in the form of enhanced Comcare and Workfare Income Supplement schemes and a new Self Employed Persons app to support lower income employed and self-employed persons to transition into regular work.

Said Ms. Lim, “Lower income women are more likely to work if they see that work offers families a fighting chance to break the cycle of poverty that their families are trapped in.”

In summary, AWARE’s recommendations include:

  • Provide free childcare for families with monthly household income <$2,500
  • Protect employees against discrimination in hiring and retention
  • Develop a new employment framework on the rights and benefits of casual workers
  • Enhance ComCare after employment
  • Enhance Workfare Income Supplement, especially for casual workers
[spacer height=”20px”]AWARE will be hosting a panel discussion, “Poverty Has A Woman’s Face” on Saturday (11 August), to launch the report. The panelists are Dr. Teo You Yenn , author of bestselling book, This is what inequality looks like; Corinna Lim, Executive Director of AWARE; Carrie Tan , Executive Director of Daughters Of Tomorrow, and Siti Aishah , a respondent of AWARE’s research and a mother of three working as an assistant admin officer.

The session will be hosted by Shailey Hingorani , Head of Advocacy and Research at AWARE and moderated by Dr Ng Kok Hoe , Assistant Professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy.

AWARE is Singapore’s leading gender equality advocacy group, which believes in the rights of women and men to make informed and responsible choices about their lives and to have equal opportunities in education, marriage and employment, and in the right of women to control their own bodies, particularly with regard to sexual and reproductive rights.

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Civil Society

Thailand withdraws reservation on refugee children’s rights, welcomed by UN Human Rights Office

Thailand’s withdrawal of its reservation on Article 22 of the CRC is hailed by the UN, marking a key step in enhancing protections for refugee and asylum-seeking children.

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2 days ago

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6 September 2024

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The UN Human Rights Office for South-East Asia (OHCHR) has praised Thailand for its decision to withdraw its reservation on Article 22 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), a move expected to improve the protection of refugee and asylum-seeking children in the country.

Cynthia Veliko, the OHCHR Representative for South-East Asia, hailed the decision, calling it “a significant, positive step” toward aligning Thailand’s laws with international standards. “This move helps protect the rights of all children on the move, no matter their nationality or origin,” Veliko said.

The Thai Cabinet’s decision to withdraw the reservation took effect on 30 August 2024. Article 22 of the CRC ensures that refugee and asylum-seeking children receive protection, humanitarian assistance, and equal access to services provided to national children, in line with international human rights laws to which Thailand is a party.

This withdrawal is also expected to strengthen the implementation of Thailand’s National Screening Mechanism (NSM), introduced on 22 September 2023.

The NSM grants the status of “protected person” to individuals who cannot return to their home countries due to the fear of persecution. However, despite these legal advancements, children without legal status in Thailand remain at risk of being detained in immigration facilities.

The UN has raised concerns over the continued detention of children despite the Thai government’s 2019 Memorandum of Understanding on Alternatives to the Detention of Children (MOU-ATD). The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has reaffirmed that every child has a fundamental right to liberty and should not be detained based on their migration status.

Veliko urged Thailand to focus on ending child immigration detention and adopting human rights-based alternatives.

“Children on the move are children first and foremost,” Veliko stressed, adding that detention due to migration status is never in the best interests of children.

The UN Human Rights Office expressed its readiness to assist the Thai government in developing alternatives to detention, ensuring that all children receive the protection and care they need.

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Civil Society

FORUM-ASIA condemns Myanmar junta’s forced conscription expansion, urges international action

FORUM-ASIA condemns Myanmar’s military junta for expanding forced conscription, calling it a desperate bid to maintain power. The policy, affecting men aged 35 to 60, adds to a long list of human rights violations, including forced labor and the use of civilians as human shields.

Published

4 days ago

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4 September 2024

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The Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) has condemned the Myanmar military junta’s recent decision to expand the age limit of its forced conscription policy, calling on the international community to stand in solidarity with the people of Myanmar.

The move is seen as a desperate attempt by the junta to maintain control in the face of a growing pro-democracy resistance movement.

On 25 August 2024, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing announced the introduction of a new “security system with public participation.”

This system would require men aged 35 to 60 to serve as guards, potentially placing them on the frontlines of conflict. The announcement follows the formation of the Central Supervisory Committee for People’s Security and Anti-Terrorism on 16 August, tasked with organizing military training and overseeing “people’s security and anti-terrorism” groups at various administrative levels.

The junta’s plan builds upon the forced conscription policy it implemented on 10 February 2024, invoking the 2010 People’s Military Service Law.

The law mandates men aged 18 to 35 and women aged 18 to 27 to serve two years in the military, with professionals like doctors and engineers potentially serving up to five years. Those who evade service or assist others in doing so face up to five years in prison. As part of this policy, the junta planned to conscript 5,000 individuals monthly from April 2024.

Civilians as Human Shields and Forced Labor

FORUM-ASIA has condemned the junta’s forced conscription policies, highlighting the military’s history of using civilians as human shields and forcing them into hard labor.

The International Labour Organization’s Commission of Inquiry found in October 2023 that the military continues to impose forced labor amidst the ongoing armed conflict, a practice that has escalated since the 2021 coup attempt.

Local news and human rights groups have reported that the junta is also abducting and arresting citizens to use as human shields, further contributing to the human rights violations in Myanmar. Many youths, rather than being conscripted into fighting for a regime they oppose, have fled their homes to join the resistance.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has expressed concern over the junta’s detention and recruitment of Myanmar youth. Meanwhile, Tom Andrews, UN Special Rapporteur on Myanmar, noted the junta’s increasing use of powerful weapons against civilians as troop losses and recruitment challenges mount.

Call for Action

FORUM-ASIA is calling on the Myanmar military junta to immediately halt its forced conscription, abductions, forced labor, and the use of civilians as human shields.

“FORUM-ASIA urges the international community, including the UN and ASEAN, to thoroughly investigate the Myanmar military junta’s long list of human rights violations. The junta should be held accountable for all its crimes through sanctions and other punitive measures,” said Mary Aileen Diez-Bacalso, Executive Director of FORUM-ASIA.

“The international community must urgently isolate the junta and support the people of Myanmar in their struggle for justice and freedom,” Bacalso added.

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