Singapore's Aware calls for better caregiving infrastructure

THE Association of Women for Action and Research (Aware) on Monday urged the Singapore government to develop a caregiving infrastructure that will provide adequate care for the elderly, children and disabled people, as part of its fifth annual set of recommendations for the Singapore Budget 2015.

This is as opposed to expecting women to provide such care by leaving the workforce, Aware said.

Current initiatives to encourage women to return to the workforce are largely in the form of skills training or upgrading, but these do not address the "key question" of whether there are alternatives that adequately replace the care provided by women as unpaid family caregivers.

The financial vulnerability of these unpaid caregivers is a "serious concern", added Aware, which cited that almost half of the 690,000 women who were outside the labour force in 2013 stated that they had dropped out of the formal workforce because of family responsibilities, including caregiving.

Aware's recommendations for the 2015 Budget, therefore, include:

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