A study conducted by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) and Associate Professor Jessica Pan (NUS Department of Economics, CFPR’s research associate) found that the adjusted gender gap in median pay has decreased from 8.8% in 2002 to 6% – or $342 a month – in 2018. However, women in Singapore are earning less even if they may be doing the same job as male colleagues of the same age and education level, even as this pay gap has narrowed. The study noted that higher-paying roles – such as managing directors, chief executives and general managers, and sales, marketing and business development managers, still tend to be male-dominated. Occupation accounted for 43 per cent of the pay gap in 2018 and played the biggest role. Hurdles remain as unpaid care work remains skewed towards women. The study suggests ways to bridge the gap by getting companies to address possible bias in performance assessments.

Associate Professor Thang Leng Leng from the Dept of Japanese Studies at NUS Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences discussed the popular retirement places in Asia, and whether Singapore’s high cost of living which dissuades the average Westerner from retiring here would also encourage Singaporeans to look to places in Asia for retirement.

A study by Assistant Professor Tan Poh Lin from the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at NUS found that married women in their peak child-bearing age in Singapore have a lot less sex than they desire, thwarted by stress and fatigue. The findings have significant bearing on Singapore’s fertility rate. This independent research is the first here to examine the coital frequency of married women at their peak child-bearing ages, and to understand the effects of stress and fatigue on their sex lives.