“Why are you not Working?”: Low-income Mothers Explain Challenges with Work and Care

“Why are you not Working?”: Low-income Mothers Explain Challenges with Work and Care

Presenters:
Ms Shailey Hingorani

Moderator:
Dr Neo Yu Wei

Time: 4:00pm to 5:30pm (Registration starts at 3.45pm)

Venue: FASS Dean’s Office Seminar Room B, AS7-01-16/17/18, Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences, National University of Singapore
Address: 5 Arts Link (S)117570

Abstract:
In Singapore, a key governmental approach to economic needs is to encourage self-reliance: through paid employment, individuals are to address their and their families’ economic needs, including building financial resources for retirement. Given this pivotal role of paid work, and the significant potential benefit of a regular influx of money to low-income households, why are so many low-income mothers nevertheless not in paid jobs?

Based on in-depth interviews with 55 low-income mothers, the research team at AWARE finds that inadequate formal childcare and prevailing work conditions make it impossible for them to exclusively depend on paid work to achieve self-reliance and for them to provide their children the necessary quality of care. With the rise of precarious employment, the gradual withering away of family support (as a result of smaller, nuclear families) and inadequate public support for caregiving have created new pressures that make balancing work and care increasingly unmanageable for lower income families.

Presenters' profile:

Shailey Hingorani- Shailey Hingorani is the Head of Advocacy and Research for the Association of Women for Action and Research (AWARE). Before joining AWARE, she worked on women's rights and child rights in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and the United States. She has worked with the Open Society Foundations, the FXB-Harvard Centre for Health and Human Rights, the Indian Mission to the United Nations, Save the Children, and the Bloomberg Initiative.

Shailey was a Fulbright scholar at Harvard University where she received a Master's in Public Administration.

REGISTRATION IS CLOSED

Date
Thursday, 17 January 2019

Time
4:00pm to 5:30pm (Registration starts at 3.45pm)

Venue
FASS Dean’s Office Seminar Room B, AS7-01-16/17/18, Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences, National University of Singapore
5 Arts Link (S)117570