Our Lives to Live

Our Lives to Live: Putting a Woman's Face to Change in Singapore explores and documents how women's roles, choices, and voices in Singapore have changed in the last 50 years; how women, from all sectors of society, have helped to shape the Singapore we know today. The 31 chapters, some with a more academic slant, others with a distinctly personal tone, reflect the rich diversity and depth of women's contributions to Singapore's evolution in the last half century, and also point to the problematical areas that still need attention. The perspectives in this book are provided by three generations of women, and they put a human face — the woman's face — to the tremendous changes in Singapore society over the past 50 years. The authors include some of Singapore's most accomplished women in many different fields — Speaker of Parliament Halimah Yacob, political scientist and diplomat Chan Heng Chee, global women's activist Noeleen Heyzer, sociologist and politician Aline Wong, food ambassador Violet Oon, sports legend Pat Chan, law lecturer and playwright Eleanor Wong, and novelist Meira Chand.Contents: Fifty Years of Change and Struggle for Equality (Aline Wong) Women and an Age-Friendly Singapore (Angelique Chan) A Home-schooling in Financial Fitness (Audrey Chin) Preparing Our Children for the Future (Carmee Lim) My Life to Live (Chan Heng Chee) My Choices (Choo Wai Hong) Where Will Women Be in 50 Years? (Chye Shu Wen) The Coming Out of the Political Singaporean (Constance Singam) I'd Rather Be a Good Wife Than a Good Woman (Eleanor Wong) Street Smarts and Social Enterprise (Elim Chew) Women in Labour (Evelyn S Wong) Nurturing Nature (Geh Min) Cooking for Their Country (Gretchen Liu) We Must Have Women in Parliament (Halimah Yacob) Singapore Style (Jennifer Schoon) The Woeful Wombs of Singapore (Kanwaljit Soin and Margaret Thomas) The Gifted Who Discern and Say It for Us (Koh Tai Ann) Violence Against Women — From Shadows to Sanctuaries (Kokila Annamalai) Mothering and Parenting: The Superwoman Myth (Lai Ah Eng) Women in the Singapore Economy — The Inequalities Continue (Linda Y C Lim) Sing Women! (Madeleine Lee) Singapore's Women's Charter: Revolution or Evolution? (Malathi Das) Meetings with Remarkable Women — The Making of Lim Mei Lan (Meira Chand) Beyond Diplomacy — Women Creating Change Through the United Nations (Noeleen Heyzer) The Power of Sport (Pat Chan) Women of Faith and Advocacy (Phyllis Ghim-Lian Chew) The Women in My Life: Ages of Wisdom (Renyung Ho) Domestic Labour in Singapore — The Long Road (Siti Nadzirah Samsudin and Braema Mathi) Childbearing in Singapore — Do We Have Real Choices? (Teo You Yenn) Two Sex Workers Speak (Vanessa Ho) A Woman's (Man's) Place is in the Kitchen (Violet Oon) Our Journey, Our History — The Milestones in the Path of Women in SingaporeSoutheast Asian and Singaporean history students; members of the general public who are interested in learning more about the trajectory of Singaporean women's struggles, contributions, and status over the past 50 years. Key Features: A vibrant and compelling collection of perspectives — some provocative, some a touch irreverent, all thoughtful and relevant — by women about women and their role and contributions to Singapore Appealingly designed by well-known artist and illustrator, PK Cheng — with hand-drawn colour caricatures of each author Part of the World Scientific Publishing 50 years of Singapore collection celebrating Singapore's half-century of independence