according to st dated 26/11/2007, business and professional women's organisations in singapore include:
- Association of Small & Medium Enterprises - Women's Entrepreneur Chapter
- DEW (Development of Economy for Women) Credit Co-operative
- Financial Women's Association of Singapore
- International Women's Federation of COmmerce and Industry
- PrimeTime Busines & Professional Women's Association
- Singapore Association of Administrative Professionals
- Singapore Association of Social Workers
- Singapore Association of Women Lawyers
- Federation of Singapore Business and Professional Women
- Association of Women Doctors
- Singapore Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry
- Singapore Malay Chamber of Commerce and Industry
- Singapore Nurses Association
- University Women's Association
- Women's Business Connection
- The Women's Travel Club of Singapore
as much as this shows of emancipation of the female gender, there still seems to be some deeply entrenched ideology baggage that lingers. why is there a need to label Women Lawyers, Women Doctors but no need to label Women Nurses? why are nurses assumed to be women while doctors and lawyers otherwise?
at the same time, i'm wondering if there are associations that exclude women i.e.
- Association of Men Lawyers
- Association of Men Doctors
- Association of Men Nurses
- Financial Men's Association etc.
pardon me if i am wrong but it somehow occurs to me that many associations do not exclude either gender but it just so happens that more men dominate these establishments. i am just afraid that if associations are set up for each gender, we are subscribing to essentialism and ultimately mark the gender differential more clearly than ever. if fighting for equality is what we are all looking for, why the demarcation? let's rid the chauvinistic mentality and gender differences. may one day when we speak of nurses, we don't think of 'missy'.