Working women in Singapore are seeing better times ahead.
The MasterCard Worldwide Index of Women's Advancement 2010 found that the women's participation in the local workforce grew by 2.2 percentage points over the last year, compared with the same period in 2008-09.
Women's regular income has also improved against men's, doubling from 34.9 to 68.9 index points, from the first to second half of last year. Singapore women have undoubtedly rosier expectations of future economic performance, with figures jumping 55 index points over the same period.
A figure of 100 on the index indicates equality between the sexes. Numbers less than that mean that expectations favour men, while numbers higher than 100 indicate the odds are on the side of women.
Women are not only seeing better prospects at work, but also at home. Throughout the region, an estimated 66.5% of women are taking on the role of key decision-makers in households, up from 45.6% last year.
“Women continue to make strides in labour-force participation and tertiary education enrolment, and we are glad to see this translating into a greater sense of self-worth,” Georgette Tan, MasterCard's vice-president of communications for the Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa regions, said.