Constance Singam was the chair of the Singapore NGO (Non-Government Organization) committee for the 4th UN World Conference on Women and served as the chair of AWARE. Her efforts in championing women's issue in Singapore as well as in many world organization is quite legendary. Constance is now invovled in organizing Singapore's first local NGO conference and fair. Sintercom talks to Constance about her passion, her life, and about doing NGO work in Singapore.

Because NGO activities traditionally do not get much media coverage, most Singaporeans have no idea what they are, much less about their many achievements. Sintercom is very honoured to be able to talk to you and to tell our readers about home grown NGOs. Can you give us a brief history of your NGO activities? I started my invlvement with AWARE in 1986. Since then I have been President of AWARE from 1987-1989 and then again from 1994-1996.As President and as a member I held the following positions: Vice-President : Singapore Council of Women's Organisations - 1987-1989 chair - SCWO's Research and Legislation Committee Task Force for the Prevention of Violence President : Singapore Council of Women's Organisations 1990-1993 chair - SCWO Rape Committee which initiated dialogue with the Police member - SCWO Women and Health Committee Board Member : National Crime Prevention Council 1990-1993 chair NCPC Women's Subcommittee Board Member : National Council for the Family and the Aged 1994-1996 member : NCFA Committee for the Aged chair : NCFA Public Education Programmes on Ageing member: Senior Citizens' Week Organizing Committee1996 Board Member : ASEAN Council of Women's Organisation 1988-1992 Chair : Singapore NGO Committee for the 4th UN World Conference on Women Chair : Organising Committee for the Regional Workshop of Governement and NGOs (East and South-East Asia) on Women. Economics and Sustainable Development - 1994.

That sounds like a lot of work! Why do you do these things? Can you relate to us any personal experience that made you so active in campaigning for women's issues? The death of my husband was a very traumatic experience for me because I felt completly lost without him. I had to learn to take care of myself, earn my own living, make decisions on my own. These were extremely difficult for me having grown up with the idea that my husband will always be there to take care of me. But life offers no such guarantees and I realised that we, as a society, were doing immense harm to our girls by the way we socialised them into dependancies and not preparing for the hard facts of life. It became important for me that I do something about this because I didn't want anybody to go through what I did. Initially when I first joined AWARE, I was concerned with issues such as discrimination against women. violence against women. I thought we needed to work towards a paradigm shift in our attitudes towards men and women and their roles so that we can transform values which would remove all forms of discrimination, maximise the potential of both men and women, enhance the quality of their lives, their family lives. I realise now that our quality of lives, family lives and indeed national lives are seriously affected by attitudes and values which ignore the humanity of men and women. This is not just a woman's issue. We, both men and women ,have a stake in how we want our lives to be, how we want our family lives to be, how we want our national lives to be. I think women have a very significant contribution to make in this process of the transformation of values. As citizens we have a duty and a responsibilty to contribute to the well-being of our country. I think all of us can make a difference to our national lives. But we have to get out there and do something and be heard.

What is your day time job? I have done many things but for part of my life I was a housewife and then a teacher. I have retired from full-time teaching, which I was doing at the Singapore Polytechnic and now do some part-time teaching. What does you family think of you being so active? How do you balance that with your career and family? My family believes passionately in social justice issues as I do. All women have problem balancing work and family. Unlike men they don't have wives to take care of all the daily details of life..of housework, of childcare and so on. Prudent management of time, careful organisation and a passionate belief in what you do help. What was the UN conference like? Did you feel that your voice as a Singaporean women was heard there? One of the most powerful experiences about international conferences is the sense of solidarity you feel with women from all over the world and you are empowered by that experience. So you come back home reenergised with renewd enthusiasm and spirit.You learn too from their experiences. Women, everywhere, have the same problems about living in this world and in some places women have a harder time of it and yet they don't give up. Whether they have education or not women struggle everywhere to be recognised, to be acknowledged, to transform values so that every human being is acknowledged, treated with respect and as an equal. That as women, mothers, wives and individuals they have their unique experiences and problemws which need to be taken into consideration at every level of policy-making process.We in Singapore have the same struggles and in joining with voices from across the globe, we can have an impact. For instance, for the first time the Singapore Government send an official representation, headed by the Minister for Community Development, to the UN conference on Women and became signatory to the UN Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW)

What impact do you think you have made regarding women's issues in Singapore? I will say that AWARE's greatest contribution has been creating an awareness of women's issues. For instance in the area of domestic violence we have seen over the last ten years a a greater understanding of the problem, a recognition that the problem is a serious one and affects family life, and legal provision for the protection of victims of violence. There is also a recognition that is not just women's issue but affect everybody. There is also a recognition that women are their own persons. Once I was in Parliament when SM Lee made a speech and I was impressed and happy to hear him using both he/she throughout his speech. He was very conscious of the importance of that. Tell us more about the NGO conference and fair that you're helping to organize now. I think the NGO conference is the most exciting event to take place in the history of civil society here. For one thing nothing like this has ever taken place before. This is the first initiative to come from the grassroots to bring NGOs together at a conference. Let me explain. This conference is being organised by a group of people who would like to see a more active civil society. The intention is to bring the NGOs together, to get to know each other better and so enable them to share resources and work together for the common good. The idea of the Fair is for Singaporeans to get to know and understand the work of NGOs. The Fair will provide opportunities for the NGOs to explain what they do. Besides the NGO conference and fair, are there any other activity that someone interested in volunteering can attend? One of the major objectives that the committee would like to achieve is an understanding of the work of NGOs. So even before the conference the committee has organised a series of visits to the various NGOs. The visits are open to all NGOs and members of the public who are interested ( you need to call and let the the hosts know that you intend to attend so that they have an idea of the number of people) to find out about a particular NGO. We feel that this is a way towards forming links and for better understanding. There is nothing like direct contact to achieve these objectives.

How would you rate civil society in Singapore now? Do you think it has become more or less active since independence? It is certainly different now because the concerns are different. I also think that we have become used to an efficient system of government doing everything for us that we prefer to have things done for us. However I think an active civil society is even more important in a society which have had a one-party system of government for a long period. In such a society the onus of responsibilty offering different perspectives on issue sand ensuring that a diversity of views are heard and respected rests with the civil society. Unless we make our views known about the kind of society we want, the kind of values we want, we are not going to get and we only have ourselves to blame.

What is your advise to someone who wants to be invovle in an NGO? I have found my own NGO work very inspiring and empowering and I have not regretted it. It is hard work, I can't deny that because NGOs are short on resources especially funding. I suggest that those who want to be involved find out about the NGOs ( you can use the opportunity of the visits we are organising to do that) and take the initiative to find out how they can be involved.Join up, and don't be afraid of commitment or hard work. You won't regret it. I remember when I first joined AWARE I thought I was going to help other women. But I have since discovered that the one who has benefited most was myself..my experience has been very nurturing for me and I have grown and developed more than I ever imagined was possible

Thanks for letting us do this interview and good luck. Everyone is welcome to the AWARE open house. You can RSVP here.