Opportunities for Women in Singapore Armed Forces

Ms Ellen Lee asked the Minister for Defence (a) whether the SAF has provided adequate opportunities for women to participate and excel in their military careers; and (b) what is the impact of more SAF regular servicewomen on our national defence.

The Minister for Defence (Dr Ng Eng Hen): Madam, in response to the Member's question, deployment and advancement within the SAF is meritocratic and based on the principle of "best person for the job", regardless of gender, race or religion, or other personal characteristics. Over the years, the servicewomen in the SAF have made good progress across all our career schemes. We have quite a number of them and they serve in a diverse range of vocations. We have women Guards Commanders, women Naval Divers and Fighter Pilots. And a good number have also risen to helm key positions -- Department Heads, Battalion Commanders, Brigade Commanders, and Division Sergeant Majors.

Let me give you a few examples. Senior Warrant Officer (SWO) Jennifer Tan - you would have remembered seeing her in this year's NDP as she came in with her children in a tank. She is in 2PDF, our 2nd People's Defence Force, and is the SAF's first female Division Sergeant Major, and also the first female Parade Regimental Sergeant Major for the NDP in 2011.

We have ME6 Sima Rai who is the Commanding Officer of 6th Army Maintenance Base, which performs engineering and maintenance work on various platforms such as the Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS). In fact, her unit was named the best Combat Service Support unit for four consecutive years.

In 2005, COL Karen Tan was our first servicewoman to be promoted to the rank of Colonel when she was Commander, Central Manpower Base (CMPB). Many of you would be familiar, recently in July this year, we had our first female Brigadier-General, Head of Air Intelligence and Director (Special Projects) BG Gan Siow Huang.

Indeed, our servicewomen have contributed significantly to our national defence, and keeping our skies, seas and homeland safe. Today, we have 1,500 uniformed servicewomen serving in the SAF, about 7% of our Regulars. Many of them have also contributed to the success of our multinational peace support operations overseas, such as in Afghanistan and the Gulf of Aden.

MINDEF and the SAF are committed to provide a challenging and fulfilling career, which Ms Ellen Lee asked about, and help our Regulars realise their full potential. To do this, we recognise that we have to support our people's life-cycle needs. In keeping with our national workforce policies, our HR policies have progressed over time to be able to accommodate flexibly and support these needs, for example, when they get married or when they become parents. As a result of these incremental changes to create a supportive work environment, that is how servicewomen are able to have fulfilling careers in MINDEF and the SAF.

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I am happy to also tell Members that our practices are in line with international agreements that Singapore is a party to, such as the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).

The SAF seeks to bring in more good, capable women to serve in the military, with career schemes that are designed to appeal to a diverse range of career interests. We are committed to provide a fulfilling profession for our servicewomen, and we look forward to women's continued contributions towards Singapore's defence.

Ms Ellen Lee (Sembawang): Thank you, Madam. I have one supplementary question for the Minister. Given the increasingly heavy responsibilities that our Regular servicewomen have played alongside their male counterparts, will the same opportunities be made available for servicewomen to be appointed the Chiefs of the Army, Navy, Air Force and the Chief of Defence Force, and even be recommended for political office? Thank you.

Dr Ng Eng Hen: Madam, I do not see why not. As I said, opportunities are open to them. We promote based on merit and if a particular recommendation comes across my desk that this woman is deserving to be Chief of Navy, Chief of Army, Chief of Air Force or Chief of Defence Force, I will say "yes" if she deserves it. For political office, it is not my purview, so I will let the Prime Minister decide that.

Ms Irene Ng Phek Hoong (Tampines): I am heartened by the Minister's reply. In my duties as a Government Parliamentary Committee (GPC) Member for Defence, I have interacted with many women officers including commanders in combat units, and they hold their own in a male-dominated workforce. Can I just ask the Minister, would you agree that military promotions tend to be highly structured and officers have to serve a series of appointments to move up the ranks?

If that is the case, would the Minister agree that there is a need to make sure that there are gender-neutral standards that are also rigorously validated at every point? Can I ask assurance from the Minister that the SAF implements a policy to ensure that no woman who is best qualified is denied access to an assignment that is open to both men and women?

Dr Ng Eng Hen: Madam, I agree and it is to our interest, to SAF's interest, to make sure that the people we have, we avail them of the opportunities to serve, so that they can move up in the hierarchy. We are short of manpower and we have to make use of everybody we have, and I agree with Ms Irene Ng that we have to make sure that not only do they have the opportunities to be promoted, but that they are given the postings to prove themselves - I think that is the main point. As long as it is gender-neutral, people have their opportunities, and it was in this vein that I said that our practices comply with the UN CEDAW, that there is no discrimination in our practices against women.

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