Our Journey, Our History

Singapore’s population is recorded as being just under 10,700, of whom about 3,000 are women.

The all-male Raffles Institution starts a section for girls with five day-students and six boarders.

The Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus opens in Victoria Street. Reverend Mother St Mathilde Raclot, founder of the school, soon also starts an orphanage and a home for abandoned babies.

Raffles Institution finds that the demand for girls to be schooled keeps growing. In 1879 Raffles Girls’ School is set up as a separate institution.

Singapore Chinese Girls’ School opens on Hill Street, with seven Straits Chinese girls. It is funded by a small group of English-educated Straits Chinese men who believe girls should be educated.

Facing pressure from the British public to address the problem of mui tsais (young bondmaids) in colonial Malaya, the Colonial Office in London enacted the Female Domestic Servants Law in Malaya. This sought to protect the moral and material interests of the ‘mui tsais’.

Teo Soon Kim is sworn in to the Singapore bar and becomes Singapore’s first woman barrister.

The Women and Girls Protection Ordinance is passed by the Legislative Council of the Straits Settlements. It outlaws brothels and related activities. There are an estimated 700 brothels in Singapore at this time.

Mary Quintal is one of the first 10 women to join the Singapore Police. They are also the first women in the civil service to be on the same pay scales as their male colleagues.

Singapore Council of Women (SCW) writes to the Governor of Singapore, urging him to introduce legislation to prevent lax marriage laws and enforce a situation where “any woman in this country may in future enjoy the same marital privileges and rights as are enjoyed by women in other British denominations”.

Daisy Vaithilingam is appointed Senior Almoner, now known as Chief of Medical Social Workers, making her the first local in the role. She is in charge of medical social workers in all hospitals in Singapore.

Singapore holds its second Legislative Assembly general election in May. It is a significant election because there is, finally, under the new Constitution of Singapore, true universal suffrage. All women who are Singapore citizens can vote. Five women are elected to the Legislative Assembly – Che Sahora binte Ahmat, Ho Puay Choo, Fung Yin Ching, Chan Choy Siong, and Seow Peck Leng.

Khatijun Nissa Siraj becomes the first female social worker in the Syariah Court.

She handles hundreds of cases in the first year, advising Muslim women of their rights under the new divorce laws.

In December, at the 3rd Southeast Asian Peninsula Games held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 11 year old ‘Golden Girl’ Patricia Chan Li-Yin kicks off her 10-year dominance of the regional swimming arena by winning gold in all her 8 events.

Jenny Lau Bong Bee is appointed Singapore’s first female district judge.

Venerable Ho Yuen Hoe establishes the Man Fut Tong Nursing Home to take care of the aged sick and immigrants from China who have no relatives to turn to.

The Singapore Business & Professional Women’s Association is formed to help working women in Singapore advance their careers and professions.

Christina Ong opens Club 21, a multi-brand boutique store in Singapore. Over the years it expands into a global fashion business.

The Singapore Association of Women Lawyers (SAWL) is formed. One aim is to simplify the law for the lay person.

Singapore’s total fertility rate, which has been steadily declining, falls below the replacement level of 2.1. In 1970 it was 3.07.

At the Asian Games in Bangkok, Junie Sng Poh Leng is the first female Singaporean swimmer and the youngest swimmer in Asiad’s history to win two gold medals at the same Games.

Fang Ai Lian is appointed a partner of Ernst & Young (Singapore). This is the first time a woman achieves partnership status in a professional services firm in Singapore.

Sociologist and parliamentarian Aline Wong calls for laws against sex discrimination.

Lucy Wan is Singapore’s first local pharmacy graduate to be appointed Professor of Pharmacy at the National University of Singapore.

Jennifer Lee Gek Choo is appointed Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Kandang Kerbau (KK) Women’s and Children’s Hospital. She puts in place a family-friendly work environment and the hospital earns the Family Friendly Firm Award for three consecutive years.

Suchen Christine Lim is the first recipient of the Singapore Literature Prize (Fiction) for her novel Fistful of Colours.

The SAF Merit Scholarship, which was previously solely for males, is introduced to women. Colonel Gan Siow Huang (Singapore’s first female general) and three other women are the first ever female recipients.

Margaret Leng Tan releases the first ever toy piano album, The Art of the Toy Piano.

Lim Sok Bee becomes the first female commanding officer of an artillery battalion in Singapore.

After qualifying as a pilot and serving in the Republic of Singapore Air Force for two decades, Anastasia Gan leaves the air force and becomes Singapore’s first female commercial pilot.

Water treatment company Hyflux, founded by Olivia Lum, is listed on Singapore’s stock exchange in January.

Lam Lay Yong is the first Asian and first woman to be awarded the Kenneth O May Prize, the highest award in the field of history of mathematics.

Khoo Teh Lynn became Singapore’s first female fighter pilot.

Theresa Goh Rui Si is the first Singaporean swimmer to take part in the Paralympics, at the Athens Games.

Anamah Tan wins a seat on the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of the Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). She is the first Singaporean woman to be in the CEDAW Committee.

Swimmer Joscelin Yeo sets a new record by winning a total of 40 gold medals at the SEA Games. [Link to Joscelin Yeo, Sports]

In May, Chng Seok Tin, a visually impaired artist, becomes the first Singaporean to showcase her works at the UN Secretariat in New York.

Chong Phit Lian becomes the first female and first Singaporean to become the CEO of Australian airline Jetstar

Rider Laurentia Tan wins Singapore’s first Paralympics medal. At the Beijing Paralympics in September, she wins two bronze medals. They are also Asia’s first equestrian medals at the Paralympics. At the London Paralympics in 2012, she wins silver and a bronze.

Jackie Yi-Ru Ying is one of only eight women recognised in the list of “100 Engineers of the Modern Era” compiled by the American Institute of Chemical Engineers.

In May, the Singapore Women’s Everest team (Jane Lee, Sim Yi Hui, Esther Tan, Lee Peh Gee, Joanne Soo, Lee Li Hui) makes it to the summit of Mt Everest.

Sophia Pang becomes the first Singaporean woman to ski from the Antarctic coast to the South Pole.

Ann Elizabeth Wee and Indranee Elizabeth Nadisen are the recipients of the inaugural Outstanding Lifetime Volunteer Awards by the then Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports. Ann Elizabeth Wee is recognised for volunteering on the Juvenile Court’s advisory panel from 1969 to 2009 and Indranee Elizabeth Nadisen for her service as a foster mother to 43 children from 1976 to 2008.

A $2 billion Marriage and Parenthood Package is announced. It includes the introduction of one week of paternity leave and one week of parental leave to be shared by husband and wife.

The Singapore Armed Forces gets its first female general when Gan Siow Huang is one of seven Colonels promoted to the rank of Brigadier-General/Rear-Admiral (1- star).