2022 has seen a greater focus on encouraging gender equality at the workplace in Singapore. The White Paper on Singapore Women’s Development released in March 2022 highlighted the introduction of laws which would encourage flexible work arrangements and support greater gender diversity on boards, to name a few. However, is there more that must be done to ensure gender diversity and equality at work? What are the greatest barriers facing women at the workplace?

On the first episode of the third season, which is in conjunction with IPS’ annual flagship conference, Singapore Perspectives 2023, host and Associate Director at the Institute of Policy Studies Liang Kaixin chats with two of our guests Corinna Lim, Executive Director of the Association of Women for Action and Research (AWARE) and Simran Toor, Chief Executive Officer at SG Her Empowerment Limited (SHE) about the laws that are in place to protect women at work, as well as what can be done to reduce the incidences of sexual harassment and unconscious gender bias at work.

Find out more about sexism at work:

• Today (11 July 2022): Woman Up: From job interview to the boardroom, gender bias often follows women through each step of the career ladder
• CNA (9 April 2022): IN FOCUS: Beyond diversity quotas and anti-discrimination laws, can Singapore embrace gender equality at the workplace?
• The Straits Times (28 March 2022): 25 action plans from the White Paper on Singapore Women's Development
• Tripartite Alliance for Fair & Progressive Employment Practices (4 March 2022): Equipping and Supporting Women in the Workplace
• Today (3 March 2022): Over 1 in 5 S'poreans believe gender discrimination exists in the workplace: Survey

About our guests:

Corinna Lim

Executive Director of the Association of Women for Action and Research (AWARE)

Ms Corinna Lim is the Executive Director of AWARE, the Association of Women for Action and Research. Ms Lim joined AWARE as a member and volunteer in 1992 and has been a women’s rights activist for close to 30 years.

Since becoming Executive Director in 2010, Ms Lim has been responsible for a range of initiatives including the setting up of the Sexual Assault Care Centre, the only specialised service in Singapore that provides support to sexual assault victims. She also led teams at AWARE to successfully advocate for the enactment of the Protection from Harassment Act, the repeal of marital rape immunity, better access to housing for single parents, gender equal workplaces and greater support for low income families and caregivers of the elderly.

In recognition of her contributions to civil society and the advancement of women’s rights, Ms Lim received a Fulbright Scholarship (1998 – 1999). As Executive Director, Ms Lim has improved the governance and management of AWARE, resulting in AWARE being awarded the Charity Governance and Transparency awards in 2015. 

Simran Toor

Chief Executive Officer at SG Her Empowerment Limited (SHE)

Ms Simran Toor began her legal career as a criminal prosecutor at the Attorney-General’s Chambers of Singapore, and thereafter spent 15 years at a Big 4 law firm, where she specialised in white-collar investigations and regulatory matters.

Ms Toor is a strong proponent of diversity, gender equity, and community development through outreach. Prior to leaving legal practice to join SHE, she was an elected member of the Council of the Law Society of Singapore, where she took a particular interest in promoting gender and access to justice issues.

In particular, Ms Toor co-led the Law Society’s Women in Practice Task Force that looked into the challenges facing women lawyers in the modern-day workplace. She also co-founded/chaired the Law Society's Women in Practice Committee that spearheaded the launch of a template anti-workplace harassment policy for adoption by all law firms.

On Diversity is a podcast inspired by the Institute of Policy Studies Managing Diversities research programme. In each episode, we chat with guests to explore what diversity means to them, the changes they are making, and the changes they hope to see in an increasingly fragmented society.

More from On Diversity

• Season 2 Episode 1: Conversations About Race, with Daniel Goh, Associate Professor of Sociology and Associate Provost of Undergraduate Education at National University of Singapore (NUS) and Haresh Tilani, Co-founder and Creative Director of Ministry of Funny
• Season 2 Episode 2: Stay-At-Home Dads, with Kelvin Seah, Stay-at-home Father and Adjunct Lecturer and Tam Wei Jia, Medical Doctor and Founder of Kitesong Global
• Season 2 Episode 3: The Plight of Buskers, with Yeo Ying Hao, Co-chairman of Buskers Assocation, and Louis Ng, Nee Soon GRC MP
• Season 2 Episode 4: Diversity in Elite Schools, with Gillian Koh, IPS Deputy Director and Senior Research Fellow, and Paul Jerusalem, master’s student at NUS
• Season 2 Episode 5: The New Civil Society, with Carol Soon, IPS Senior Research Fellow and Head of Society and Culture, and Woo Qiyun, Environmentalist and creator of The Weird and Wild
• Season 2 Episode 6: The Young vs The Old, with Kanwaljit Soin, Orthopaedic and Hand Surgeon, and Teo Kay Key, IPS Research Fellow
• Season 2 Episode 7: Homelessness, with Harry Tan, IPS Research Fellow, and June Chua, Co-founder of T Project
• Season 2 Episode 8: What Makes Us Singaporean, with Matthew Matthews, Principal Research Fellow of IPS and Head of IPS Social Lab, and Oon Shu An, Singaporean actress and host
• Season 2 Episode 9: Youth Mental Health, with Dr Jacqueline Tilley, Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychology at the National Institute of Education (NIE) and Asher Low, Founder of Limitless