Our Annual Lo Hei Lunch and President’s Forum (2017)
The Singapore Council of Women’s Organisations held its Annual Lo Hei Lunch and Presidents’ Forum on Women and Ageing on the 11th of February 2017.
This event brought together more than 50 participants, including the guest speakers, Deputy Secretary of Development, Ms Teoh Zsin Woon from the Ministry of Health, and Director of the International Longevity Centre (ILC), Ms Susana Concorde Harding, who shared their views and insights on the issue of ageing with a diverse group of SCWO members.
Ms Teoh gave an overview of government’s efforts on ageing and shared details about the recently launched ageing blueprint by the Ministerial Committee on Ageing, Action Plan for Successful Ageing. She spoke briefly about the key initiatives introduced under the plan, particularly those related to employment, housing, healthcare and research.
The second guest speaker, Ms Susana Concordo Harding spoke about the work of Tsao Foundation and one of its four initiatives, International Longevity Centre, which aims to identify and promote research and policy initiatives that advocate for the well being of older people. She also spoke about gender dimension of ageing in Singapore and pointed out that while women are more likely than men to be disadvantaged in their old age, they are less likely to accept support from their families for fear of becoming a burden to them. She ended by emphasising the importance of adopting a gender-responsive approach and ensuring that gender is mainstreamed into all policies and research related to ageing.
The presentations were followed by an engaging panel discussion with our two guest speakers, and Dr June Goh, President of SCWO and Ms Ho Shiong Yee, 1st Vice President of SCWO. The panel was moderated by Ms Hazlina Abdul Halim, 2nd Vice President of SCWO.
More images from the event.
