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Making Singapore a great place for families

12 Nov 2016 < 1 min read

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Enhancements to the Marriage and Parenthood Plan, which were announced in Parliament earlier this week, is a good step towards making Singapore a great place for families, said Chairperson of the PAP Women’s Wing (WW) and Minister for Culture, Community and Youth, Ms Grace Fu.

Speaking at a WW gathering this afternoon which was also attended by Senior Ministers of State, Ms Jopsephine Teo and Ms Sim Ann, Ms Fu shared that the enhancements include an increase of paternity leave for fathers to two weeks; shared paternity leave from two weeks to four weeks; adoption leave for mothers and fathers of adopted children and maternity leave will now be extended to unwed mothers.

These changes that will take effect in January 2017 were carefully considered and to ensure that companies were also be able to adapt and adopt these pro-family practices.

When discussing concerns regarding childcare, Ms Fu assured that the Government is still looking at ways to build capabilities and raise qualities of early childhood education and childcare; housing for families and also providing work-life balance for parents.

Against the backdrop of slow economic growth and the state of Singapore’s slow and declining birth rate, Ms Fu said that these enhancements will hopefully help help young couples make the decision to have children.

She said, “With supportive family and policies, we want to make the parenting experience a better one and encourage people to make a decision to start a family. Also, we find that a society where the gender roles are more balanced, it will also help encourage women to make the decision to have children as well.”

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