SPEECH BY MS INDRANEE RAJAH, MINISTER, PRIME MINISTER’S OFFICE, SECOND MINISTER FOR FINANCE AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND PRESIDENT, SINDA, AT THE LAUNCH OF ‘LET HER SHINE!’, ON SATURDAY, 7 MAY 2022 AT THE SINGAPORE RECREATION CLUB

Introduction

1. Good afternoon everyone.

2. Recently, we released the White Paper on Singapore Women’s Development in Parliament, and we had emphasised there that Singaporean women’s development really needs a whole-of-society effort. So here at SINDA, we wanted to do our part.

Progress of Women in Singapore

3. The journey of women’s empowerment in Singapore is not new. We began that all the way back in 1961, with the introduction of the Women’s Charter, to ensure the protection and welfare of Singaporean women. We have been reviewing the Charter regularly, but at the same time, we recognise that there are new challenges along the way, there are new milestones for women to achieve and there are new aspirations that they have – there is just so much to be done.

4. So, we decided that what we want to do here at SINDA, is to give Indian women a chance to be able to be all that they can be, to pursue their aspirations, achieve their dreams and realise their potential. How do you do this? How do you help every young girl, every woman no matter her age, be all that she can be? It requires a few things.

SINDA’s ‘Let Her Shine!’

5. Firstly, believe in her! Believe in her because everyone has potential and everyone has that little spark that you can set alight to become something else. So, it is very important for women in particular to have that sense of confidence. So, in this ‘Let Her Shine!’ initiative, you will see that a good portion of it is really about confidence building − helping young girls and women to believe in themselves and to know that others believe in them too.

6. The other thing that we want to do after confidence-building, is to equip them, because there are certain things that books and schools cannot teach you. If you are fortunate, your parents and your families will teach you, or you may have a mentor to guide you, but not everyone has someone in their lives who has the right experience to understand what a young woman is going through and help her on her journey.

7. So, what we want to do is to make sure that our young women are equipped with skills. These would include things knowing one’s limits and knowing when to seek help; knowing how to say no and also knowing when to say ‘I can’, and not being held back by a stereotype or words of discouragement. We want to be able to make sure that our women can break barriers and be everything that they can be.

SINDA’s Efforts for Women

8. Here at SINDA, while we have various programmes and services – SINDA Family Service Centre, programmes for families and youth, and Project Athena for single mothers – we realised that we did not have a programme specifically targeted at women in general, from all walks of life and from all backgrounds within the Indian community.

9. So, we decided to have a SINDA Taskforce set up to lead these efforts, chaired by SINDA Executive Committee Member Praveen Randhawa, alongside other Taskforce members. They have come together and decided on certain key thrusts, which they will introduce to you later in the programme.

Conclusion

10. We very much hope that through ‘Let Her Shine!’, we will be able to help our Indian women fulfil their potential, stand shoulder to shoulder with other women and that we will be able to let them all shine!

11. Thank you.