Both men and women equally at risk when it comes to job cuts, say unionists

Both men and women are just as equally likely to be laid off during this recession, said unionists.

The only difference is that unionists had started seeing a few cases where laid-off pregnant women felt discriminated against.

But these numbers are not alarming, said National Trades Union Congress’ (NTUC’s) deputy secretary-general, Halimah Yaacob.

She made these comments Sunday at an International Women's Day event to launch a special help scheme for single mothers.

With the Singapore economy expected to shrink by as much as eight to 10 per cent this year, the end of the road for job cuts appeared nowhere in sight.

Secretary-general of NTUC, Lim Swee Say, said: "Every per cent drop in the economic growth will lead to one per cent increase in unemployment rate -- that is a very rule of thumb classical macro-economics. But in Singapore, we never believe that because we always believe what you do with workers during a downturn is more important."

And that the Labour chief said, is to build new capabilities because it would be a different world once this recession is over.

But would women feel a greater brunt of this downturn?

Not necessarily, said unionists.

When it comes to layoffs, it is not gender that plays a major role in retrenchment decisions, said unionists.

Mdm Halimah said: "Rather, (retrenchment is) very sector-specific. In sectors where you see a lot of women, like for instance, the manufacturing sector, where a fair number of women were employed as production operators. Then, obviously, when there were retrenchments, (these women) were affected because they were over-represented in these sectors."

And more could still be affected with unionists pointing to the retail and hospitality sectors as probably the next industries to feel the pinch of job cuts, although these sectors might not be as heavily female-centric as the manufacturing sector.

One group that is receiving additional help at this time is single mothers.

Single mother Jassia Jasmani, 49, had struggled on her own after her divorce, getting cancer and being laid off from a nursing job.

She said: "I couldn't get maintenance (from my ex-husband) because he was an ex-addict, a drug addict. He went back into remand and the worst part was that maintenance was cut off that way and we had difficulties in bringing up the kids."

One of the biggest problems single mothers face is the lack of a steady source of income especially when they do not get maintenance money from ex-husbands.

And the current economic climate with job cuts, shorter work weeks and lesser income is making the situation more difficult.

But while Mdm Jassia took on a job as a cleaner, not all single mothers are as tenacious.

And it is people like them unionists want to help, through a buddy system.

A unionist at the Union of Power and Gas Employees, Suseela A Singaram, said: "In our volunteer work with different kinds of projects, we did come across single mothers who said they did not have a sense of direction when they were in a predicament."

“They did not have a friend to bring them through so… (this buddy system had someone) to hold their hands and bring them through, no matter what their problems were."

The women's wing of NTUC had started a new project to help such women find jobs and become more legally aware by working with the Law Society to produce a legal guide and setting up reading programmes for children.

About a hundred women had signed up so far, and the union hoped to up this number to 500 by year-end.

- Channel News Asia

Employers say gender not a factor in retrenchment

With more job cuts expected during the economic crisis, some employers Channel NewsAsia spoke to said women employees do not face a higher chance of getting retrenched than men, simply because of their gender.

Some women employers said female employees are loyal, committed and give 160 per cent effort at work. And such saving graces help them stay in the workforce despite greater challenges in juggling career and family commitments.

One leading woman entrepreneur said different priorities during various life stages help women enjoy both work and family life.

Claire Chiang, senior vice-president, Banyan Tree Holdings, said: "At certain stage of your life, you take a pause or you move on, or you take a pause. And this is the woman's way.

"And we mustn't think, therefore, that this is a secondary way. Because the man is like going linear and we are going zigzagging. But by zigzagging, we have more opportunities to work smart and live well."

Ms Chiang was speaking at an event called "Women Mean Business - Celebrating International Women's Day 2009" on Friday.

Many at the event said talent, rather than gender, should be the factor for hiring.

Some players in the retail industry hire more women because of their aptitude for the service sector. But they admit it becomes a challenge when their staff have to juggle work and family commitments, especially when they start a family.

Elim Chew, president, 77th Street, said: "It's a little hard to manage for an SME because if they are important people, it's hard to let go of them for the next few months. If they are easily replaceable, then everybody is easily replaceable.

"But the thing is, because they are key people, then it's very hard for us to replace them because we always don't have enough people."

As for the impression that more women are being retrenched in Singapore than men, some at the event said that it is due to the fact that most of the layoffs currently occur in the lower ranks, which have more women than in the upper echelons.

- Channel News Asia