Department Of Women’s Affairs And Family Development, Our vision of an informed, involved and vibrant community of women guides our mission to promote and facilitate an enabling environment for women’s progress, equality and contribution to family, community and nation.
What We Do
The Office for Women’s Development (OWD) is the national focal point on gender policy matters and for regional/international cooperation pertaining to women. Its key roles are to:
- Identify issues, challenges and trends affecting women’s development and provide advice from the gender perspective to public sector agencies.
- Manage a repository of statistics and information on women’s development.
- Represent Singapore and further Singapore’s interests in matters concerning women at regional and international fora.
- Monitor progress and implementation of Singapore’s obligations with regard to women-related international instruments e.g. the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).
As women’s issues are cross-cutting, we work closely with the Inter-Ministry Committee on CEDAW and other relevant ministries and agencies on policies and programmes impacting women and women-related matters. This is in line with the Government’s commitment to a “whole-of-government” approach to policy formulation.
We also work closely with key partners and stakeholders including the Singapore Council of Women’s Organisations, the national coordinating body for local women’s organisations; the NTUC Women and Family Unit; and the People’s Association’s Women’s Integration Network Council, to advance the status and well-being of women in Singapore.