Beyond International Women’s Day: How NTUC Women and Family is pushing workplace change for women

Every 8 March, International Women’s Day (IWD) fills social media feeds with tributes to strong women. Brands turn their logos purple. Everyone has something to say

And then, on 9 March, most working mothers in Singapore return to the same reality they navigated the day before: a full-time job, a family to care for, dinner to cook, and approximately 24 hours to do it all.

IWD was never meant to be a single day of recognition. It was meant to mark progress — and to ask honestly how much further there is still to go.

For working women and caregivers in Singapore, that question has a concrete answer.

Because behind many of the workplace protections and support systems that quietly shape their daily lives, NTUC Women and Family (WAF) has been doing the unglamorous work of turning advocacy into policy, and policy into practice.

Not with speeches alone, but with legislative pushes, employer partnerships, and programmes built around the specific, practical realities of women who are trying to hold careers and families together at the same time.

As we reflect on the meaning of Women’s Month, let us look at the concrete outcomes of this ongoing advocacy.

Flexible work: From favour to right

The conversation around flexible work arrangements (FWA) in Singapore did not begin with the Tripartite Guidelines on Flexible Work Arrangement Requests, which took effect in December 2024.

NTUC has been advocating flexible work since the 1990s — long before it became a mainstream workplace conversation.

Today, over 70 per cent of companies in Singapore offer some form of flexible work. However, as NTUC Assistant Secretary-General Yeo Wan Ling highlighted during her Budget debate speech in February 2026, having these guidelines alone is not enough — workers must feel secure in requesting flexibility at work.

WAF surveys show that more than half of workers have never made a formal FWA request — not because they did not need flexibility, but because they feared being seen as less committed or being quietly passed over for advancement.

The fight, as Ms Yeo put it, is no longer just about policy. It is about culture. And that is a harder, slower battle.

Paternity leave: The numbers tell the story

In 2012, NTUC called on the Government to introduce two weeks of paid paternity leave. Today, that stands at four weeks — mandatory, fully Government-paid, and fully reimbursed.

From April 2026, parents can additionally share up to 10 weeks of parental leave between them. Combined with maternity leave, Singapore families can now access up to 30 weeks in total.

The trajectory from two weeks to 30 is not accidental. It reflects years of consistent advocacy from the Labour Movement, grounded in worker feedback and a clear-eyed understanding that caregiving is not a temporary interruption to a career – it is part of life.

Breastfeeding at work: From awareness to accountability

In 2013, NTUC launched Project Liquid Gold — a campaign to raise awareness of the needs of breastfeeding mothers in the workplace at a time when many women were still expressing milk in toilet cubicles or storing breastmilk in communal office fridges.

That campaign grew into the Better Workplace Programme, which now works with employers to set up proper lactation spaces, implement wellness support, and adopt workplace harassment policies.

In 2025 alone, WAF set up five wellness corners and lactation spaces benefiting more than 1,500 employees, and secured 312 enhanced memoranda of understanding with employers to strengthen workplace support for women and caregivers.

In 2026, the programme is expanding further. But as Ms Yeo noted in Parliament, the physical infrastructure is only part of the answer.

“Breastfeeding mothers tell us that workplace lactation rooms may exist, but culture matters more. If rooms become storerooms, or mothers feel rushed, the message is clear: support is conditional,” she said.

WAF has committed to expanding the Better Workplace Programme this year to support more companies with their lactation room set-up — because getting the room built is only the beginning.

Getting back in: The return-to-work reality

Approximately 260,000 working-age women in Singapore, representing a specific segment of Singapore’s population, are currently outside the workforce.

Many stepped away to care for children or elderly parents. Many want to return — but face a job market that has moved on without them, and employers who are uncertain about hiring someone with a career gap.

The C U Back @ Work programme, introduced in 2023, was built to close that gap. It works with progressive employers to redesign roles with flexible hours, flexible training pathways, and competitive salaries tailored to caregivers’ realities.

Since its launch, the programme has supported nearly 1,000 women and caregivers in their return-to-work journey. In 2025, it expanded to include more professional, managerial, executive and technical (PMET) roles, ensuring that return-to-work is not just possible, but worthwhile.

A full plate: Support for caregivers

Behind every working mother is often an invisible web of caregiving responsibilities that extends well beyond young children.

Many working women in Singapore are simultaneously caring for elderly parents, managing a household, and holding down a job — sometimes on a single income, and sometimes alone.

In 2025, NTUC committed $5.4 million through the NTUC Care (Caregiver Support) for the period 2025 to 2027, targeting two groups: caregivers of children with special needs, and single caregivers managing young children and elderly dependents concurrently.

The Fund was developed in direct response to feedback gathered through NTUC’s #EveryWorkerMatters Conversations — a recognition that the caregiving burden falls disproportionately on women, and that policy needs to meet them where they actually are.

The meal, and the movement

There is a reason WAF chose a one-pot meal as the centrepiece of its International Women’s Day 2026 celebrations.

It is not just practical for time-strapped caregivers. It represents what the Labour Movement has been doing for working women for decades: putting everything in, letting it work, and making something nourishing out of the complexity.

The meal multitasks. The movement multitasks. And the work — in Parliament, in workplaces, and in the everyday lives of Singapore’s working women — continues.

Find out more

NTUC Women and Family’s One-Pot Wonders recipe book — featuring simple, nutritious one-pot meals contributed by union leaders, Members of Parliament, and community allies — is now available.

For working women and caregivers looking for career support, return-to-work resources, mentorship opportunities, and caregiving assistance, check out NTUC Women and Family.