South Asia | Singapore | Law

First woman detained for radicalism in singapore released with restrictions

Syaikhah Izzah Zahrah Al Ansari, the first woman detained for radicalism under the Internal Security Act (ISA) in Singapore, has been released. In a press release on Tuesday (Jun 25), the Ministry of Home Affairs said Izzah, now 24, was released from detention with restrictions when her Order of Detention (OD) expired in June. She was among four Singaporean ISA detainees who had "shown good progress in their rehabilitation", said MHA, and had been "assessed to no longer pose a security threat that require preventive detention". Izzah, a former infant-care assistant with the PAP Commun

South Asia | Singapore | Leadership

Grace Fu first female full minister to helm a ministry

Source: Channel NewsAsia

On Thursday (Oct 1), a piece of history will be written when Ms Grace Fu is sworn in as Singapore’s first female full minister to helm a ministry. Ms Fu, 51, who was appointed Minister in Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) in 2012, will take over the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth (MCCY) from Mr Lawrence Wong, who will move to the National Development Ministry. Ms Fu said she was humbled by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s confidence in her. On her priorities at MCCY, Ms Fu said that she would engage the various stakeholders “to build an even more engaged and committed commu

South Asia | Singapore | Business

Deutsche Bank calls its women conference ‘Men Matter’

Source: The Telegraph

Deutsche Bank tried to do a good thing with its latest conference on Women in Business. Instead of focusing on the role women can play to achieve gender equality in business, they focused on what men can do to help. Much like UN Women’s HeForShe movement, the idea was to make sure men were involved in the fight for equality. The bank decided to give this year’s Women In Asian Business conference the name 'Men Matter'. This didn’t go down well with everyone – especially on Twitter where the hashtag #MenMatter echoed recent justice movements such as #B

South Asia | Singapore | Leadership

Female Pilots Struggle to Break Through Glass Ceiling at Asia’s Airlines

Source: Skift

At last week’s pilot training course for Singapore Airlines Ltd.’s Scoot carrier, Eva Maria Thien stood out among the participants because she was the only woman. She also was the instructor. She’s a rarity in the male-dominated world of pilots. Just 3 percent of pilots worldwide are female, and in Singapore, where Thien is based, the figure is about 1 percent. Thien broke through with a blend of determination, skill and love for flying. She was willing to bide her time and work her way up in Europe until she was promoted, before moving to Asia. She wants to see other women follow

South Asia | Singapore | Military

SAF promotes first female to Brigadier-General rank

Source: Channel NewsAsia

The Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) now has their first female Brigadier-General (BG). Col Gan Siow Huang was one of seven Colonels promoted to the rank of BG and RADM (One -Star) at the annual SAF promotion ceremony on Friday (Jun 26). She will assume her rank on Jul 1. She was among the first four women to receive the SAF merit scholarship in 1993, and she now heads the Joint Manpower Department. In recent years, she has been making calls for more women to choose the SAF as a career. Currently, close to 1,500 women hold combat jobs in the SAF, less than 10 per cent of SAF regular personn

South Asia | Singapore | Economy

Singapore companies hiring more women tech professionals: Survey

Source: The Straight Times

The number of women in Singapore working in technology - a profession still seen as dominated by men - is booming, specialist recruitment firm Robert Half said on Thusrday. Releasing the results of a survey it conducted, the firm 49 per cent of companies here have recruited more women into technology roles during the last five years. The survey was conducted among 901 chief technology officers (CTOs) and chief information officers (CIOs) in eight countries. There were 100 respondents from Singapore, of which 27 were women. The biggest increase in female technology professionals oc