Working mothers and pregnant women are still facing discrimination, in spite of guidelines that were introduced to prevent this. What are the reasons behind the continued discrimination? Can legislation better ensure fair treatment of these women in society?

In the eighth episode of the third season, host and Associate Director at the Institute of Policy Studies Liang Kaixin chats with two of our guests, Sher-li Torrey, founder of Mums@Work, as well as Kalpana Vignehsa, Senior Research Fellow at IPS, about making childcare more gender-equal, the impact of career breaks and having maternity covers that could help mothers go on maternity leave with a peace of mind.

Find out more about pregnancy and maternity discrimination: 
CNA (10 October 2022): Singapore Airlines says pregnant cabin crew may choose to work temporary ground jobs
The Straits Times (27 June 2022): Pregnant women still facing discrimination at workplace despite anti-discrimination laws
Today (9 June 2022): Police say they are 'firmly against workplace discrimination’, after ex-officer claims appraisal dropped due to pregnancy
Today (17 June 2017): Pregnant workers still ‘face subtle discrimination’ in Singapore



About our guests:

Sher-li Torrey

Founder of Mums@Work

In 2010, following the birth of her daughter, Sher-li started Mums@Work (Singapore), which is a social enterprise that supports women. In 2016, she started a subsidiary of Mums@Work, Career Navigators, with the focus of bringing women back into the workforce in full-time roles.

Sher-li currently sits on the 12th COMPASS Council (Ministry of Education), having been on the 10th council since 2017. She also sits on the ACCORD Family & Community Council (Ministry of Defence) since 2019. In addition, she is a Families For Life Council (Ministry of Social & Family Development) Member as of August 2019.

In 2012, she co-authored the book “Successful Work-Life Balance: The Flexi-work Way/ The Mumpreneur Way”. Sher-li also won the SG Heroine award in the SG Women’s Festival 2022, in recognition for her work done to encourage women equality in Singapore. She was selected as LinkedIn Top Voices in Gender Equity in 2022 and also one of the three women in Singapore in a LinkedIn-sponsored International Women’s Day 2022 feature in Vogue Magazine.

Kalpana Vignehsa

Senior Research Fellow at IPS

Kalpana is Senior Research Fellow in the Governance and Economy Department at the Institute of Policy Studies. She works on topics related to immigration and social integration in families and workplaces. Kalpana also has interests in the lived experience of parenthood and behavioural interventions in healthcare and environmentalism. 

Before joining IPS in 2020, Kalpana worked across public advocacy, academia, non-government work, and consulting. Most recently, she was Design Ethnographer at the Australian Consumer Association, where she led the social research programme within R&D. Kalpana worked on projects related to housing, the circular-economy, ageing, and energy affordability. 

Prior to this, she was Assistant Professor at UTS Business School. Her research focused on organisational “stuckedness”—the how and why of our persistence with practices that are non-generative, or even counterproductive.

Kalpana received her PhD in Organisational Sociology from the University of Technology Sydney (Australia). She also holds a Bachelors of International Business and a BA with Honours in Political Science and International Relations from Macquarie University (Australia). 

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 3 Episode 7: Palliative Care for the Young and Old with Dr Chong Poh Heng, Medical Director at HCA Hospice Limited and Tay Jia Ying, an end-of-life doula and Founder of Happy Ever After
Season 3 Episode 6: Social Worker Burnout with Louis Ng, MP for Nee Soon GRC and Cindy Ng-Tay, Director of Home at Children’s Aid Society
Season 3 Episode 5: Leaving the Law Profession with Andrew Chan, Partner at Allen & Gledhill LLP and Michelle Yeo, Of Counsel at LVM Law Chambers LLC
Season 3 Episode 4: Racism at Work with Dharesheni Nedumaran, Head of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, APAC, at Mediabrands and Shamil Zainuddin, Research Associate at IPS Social Lab
Season 3 Episode 3: Ableism at Work with Cassandra Chiu, a vision impaired counsellor and advocate for PWDs, and Justin Lee, Senior Research Fellow at IPS
Season 3 Episode 2: Ageism at Work with Heng Chee How, Deputy Secretary-General of the National Trade Union Congress (NTUC), and Associate Professor Helen Ko of the Master & PhD in Gerontology Programmes at the Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS)
Season 3 Episode 1: Sexism at Work, with 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) 

Working mothers and pregnant women are still facing discrimination, in spite of guidelines that were introduced to prevent this. What are the reasons behind the continued discrimination? Can legislation better ensure fair treatment of these women in society?
In the eighth episode of the third season, host and Associate Director at the Institute of Policy Studies Liang Kaixin chats with two of our guests, Sher-li Torrey, founder of Mums@Work, as well as Kalpana Vignehsa, Senior Research Fellow at IPS, about making childcare more gender-equal, the impact of career breaks and having maternity covers that could help mothers go on maternity leave with a peace of mind.
Find out more about pregnancy and maternity discrimination: 
<ul>
<li>CNA (10 October 2022): <a href="https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/singapore-airlines-pregnant-cabin-crew-temporary-ground-jobs-arrangement-2999551">Singapore Airlines says pregnant cabin crew may choose to work temporary ground jobs</a></li>
<li>The Straits Times (27 June 2022): <a href="https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/jobs/pregnant-women-still-facing-discrimination-at-workplace-despite-anti-discrimination-laws">Pregnant women still facing discrimination at workplace despite anti-discrimination laws</a></li>
<li>Today (9 June 2022): <a href="https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/police-workplace-discrimination-pregnant-appraisal-1920391">Police say they are 'firmly against workplace discrimination’, after ex-officer claims appraisal dropped due to pregnancy</a></li>
<li>Today (17 June 2017): <a href="https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/losing-job-while-being-pregnant">Pregnant workers still ‘face subtle discrimination’ in Singapore</a></li>
</ul>
 
About our guests:
Sher-li Torrey
Founder of Mums@Work
In 2010, following the birth of her daughter, Sher-li started Mums@Work (Singapore), which is a social enterprise that supports women. In 2016, she started a subsidiary of Mums@Work, Career Navigators, with the focus of bringing women back into the workforce in full-time roles.
Sher-li currently sits on the 12th COMPASS Council (Ministry of Education), having been on the 10th council since 2017. She also sits on the ACCORD Family &amp; Community Council (Ministry of Defence) since 2019. In addition, she is a Families For Life Council (Ministry of Social &amp; Family Development) Member as of August 2019.
In 2012, she co-authored the book “Successful Work-Life Balance: The Flexi-work Way/ The Mumpreneur Way”. Sher-li also won the SG Heroine award in the SG Women’s Festival 2022, in recognition for her work done to encourage women equality in Singapore. She was selected as LinkedIn Top Voices in Gender Equity in 2022 and also one of the three women in Singapore in a LinkedIn-sponsored International Women’s Day 2022 feature in Vogue Magazine.
Kalpana Vignehsa
Senior Research Fellow at IPS
Kalpana is Senior Research Fellow in the Governance and Economy Department at the Institute of Policy Studies. She works on topics related to immigration and social integration in families and workplaces. Kalpana also has interests in the lived experience of parenthood and behavioural interventions in healthcare and environmentalism.  Before joining IPS in 2020, Kalpana worked across public advocacy, academia, non-government work, and consulting. Most recently, she was Design Ethnographer at the Australian Consumer Association, where she led the social research programme within R&amp;D. Kalpana worked on projects related to housing, the circular-economy, ageing, and energy affordability. Prior to this, she was Assistant Professor at UTS Business School. Her research focused on organisational “stuckedness”—the how and why of our persistence with practices that are non-generative, or even counterproductive.
Kalpana received her PhD in Organisational Sociology from the University of Technology Sydney (Australia). She also holds a Bachelors of International Business and a BA with Honours in Political Science and International Relations from Macquarie University (Australia). 
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
<ul>
<li><a href="https://ipscommons.sg/podcasts_uri/ips-on-diversity-podcast-s3e7-palliative-care-for-the-young-and-old/">Season 3 Episode 7: Palliative Care for the Young and Old with Dr Chong Poh Heng, Medical Director at HCA Hospice Limited and Tay Jia Ying, an end-of-life doula and Founder of Happy Ever After</a></li>
<li><a href="https://ipscommons.sg/podcasts_uri/ips-on-diversity-podcast-s3e6-social-worker-burnout/">Season 3 Episode 6: Social Worker Burnout with Louis Ng, MP for Nee Soon GRC and Cindy Ng-Tay, Director of Home at Children’s Aid Society</a></li>
<li><a href="https://ipscommons.sg/podcasts_uri/ips-on-diversity-podcast-s3e5-leaving-the-law-profession/">Season 3 Episode 5: Leaving the Law Profession with Andrew Chan, Partner at Allen &amp; Gledhill LLP and Michelle Yeo, Of Counsel at LVM Law Chambers LLC</a></li>
<li><a href="https://ipscommons.sg/podcasts_uri/ips-on-diversity-podcast-s3e4-racism-at-work/">Season 3 Episode 4: Racism at Work with Dharesheni Nedumaran, Head of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, APAC, at Mediabrands and Shamil Zainuddin, Research Associate at IPS Social Lab</a></li>
<li><a href="https://ipscommons.sg/podcasts_uri/ips-on-diversity-podcast-s3e3-ableism-at-work/">Season 3 Episode 3: Ableism at Work with Cassandra Chiu, a vision impaired counsellor and advocate for PWDs, and Justin Lee, Senior Research Fellow at IPS</a></li>
<li><a href="https://ipscommons.sg/podcasts_uri/ips-on-diversity-podcast-s3e2-ageism-at-work/">Season 3 Episode 2: Ageism at Work with Heng Chee How, Deputy Secretary-General of the National Trade Union Congress (NTUC), and Associate Professor Helen Ko of the Master &amp; PhD in Gerontology Programmes at the Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS)</a></li>
<li><a href="https://ipscommons.sg/podcasts_uri/ips-on-diversity-podcast-s3e1-sexism-at-work/">Season 3 Episode 1: Sexism at Work, with 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) </a></li>
</ul>

"On Diversity" is a podcast series of new insights and fresh discussions, inspired by IPS’ Managing Diversities research programme.

In each episode, IPS Associate Director Liang Kaixin will 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.

On Diversity features new episodes every week.

"On Diversity" is a podcast series of new insights and fresh discussions, inspired by IPS’ Managing Diversities research programme.
In each episode, IPS Associate Director Liang Kaixin will 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.
On Diversity features new episodes every week.

IPS On Diversity Podcast

"On Diversity" is a podcast series of new insights and fresh discussions, inspired by IPS’ Managing Diversities research programme. In each episode, IPS Associate Director Liang Kaixin will 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. On Diversity features new episodes every week.

"On Diversity" is a podcast series of new insights and fresh discussions, inspired by IPS’ Managing Diversities research programme. In each episode, IPS Associate Director Liang Kaixin will 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. On Diversity features new episodes every week.

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