IBM’s Women Leaders Forum celebrated female trailblazers and pressed for continued progress in Singapore

First up on the programme was the Leaders Panel: Turning Advocacy into Action, which welcomed Janet Ang, nominated member of parliament and chairman of Singapore Polytechnic and Sistic.com; Annie Sng, director of Intel Programme Management Centre at HTX (Home Team Science and Technology Agency); Karen Tan, CIO at DHL Express; and Vincent Tay, partner, public sector and healthcare, IBM Consulting. Moderated by Rachel Duffell, regional content director, Front & Female, the trailblazers shared their personal journeys to key leadership positions and how organisations can create breakthroughs for the advancement of women.

Both Sng and Tan urged that women must be judged on merit and capability, but that women must also believe in themselves. “The glass ceiling is what we put on ourselves as women,” said Tan.

Businesses can also help to progress women. Sng said that it was crucial to build strong support networks and programmes in the workplace, with leaders supporting flexible working, particularly if women are returning to work after taking a break or slowing down.

Ang added a caution that flexible working must be accompanied by processes that support it, particularly around performance evaluation and fair progression, aspects that many companies failed to ensure during the pandemic resulting in a subsequent removal of hybrid working arrangements.

All of the speakers had advice to share on how women can do more but also how leaders can champion gender parity. To speak up, to mentor and to share experiences were all mentioned by the panellists. “Be an advocate for women, whether you are male or female,” said Tan. “Women need to support other women.”

“It takes courage, and it takes guts”, Sng added, referencing the need to push for equal opportunity programmes and create environments for open and inclusive communication.

Ang added the importance of reaching down to lift up other women, but to ensure that they were ready. And lastly, she added, that it was key that women “unleash your voice” and be heard.

Following the lively panel discussion, Charu Mahajan, partner, Corporate Ventures and IBM Garage, IBM Consulting APAC D&I council chair, shared insights from IBM’s 2023 Global Women in Leadership Study. While she agreed that there are reasons to celebrate as we move towards gender parity, there are also challenges. An entire middle population of women is leaving the workforce, and this will have serious impact in the next five to ten years on the leadership pipeline. There are also financial implications to not having gender parity at a leadership level. So, while last year may have seen record levels of women in senior leadership positions in Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand, among other places, there is still work to be done.

Leaders are found in all fields, and next to share their story was national swimmer and two-time Olympian, Quah Ting Wen in a fireside chat with Tatler Singapore’s branded content director, Dana Koh. The professional swimmer discussed her passion for the sport and how making the national team at the age of 12 was a turning point. She shared the importance not only of physical fitness but also mental resilience and how mindfulness and being present have been essential to her success, but how it’s also important to look for joy in what she does.  

From sport the programme turned to science as Li Jingmei, group leader at the Genome Institute of Singapore, A*Star, presented a talk titled Science of Women: Innovating the Way Breast Cancer is Detected Through DNA and Data Driven Science. She shared how important it is to replace an outdated risk categorisation for breast cancer screening assessed by age with DNA-based testing to offer tailored risk assessments in order to improve early detection of breast cancer. She also spoke of her hopes for the future of breast cancer screening, which include making the experience more comfortable for women, from being “insta-mammogram-able” to making it possible to screen at home on your iPhone.

A uniquely Singaporean experience brought the event to a close as Fiona Ting, executive chef of homegrown chocolate brand Mr Bucket Chocolaterie, took the audience through a tutored tasting of the brand’s sustainable Asia-sourced chocolate—from bean to bar to bonbon.

Final closing remarks came from Agnes Heftberger, general manager and technology leader of IBM South East Asia, Australia, New Zealand and Korea, who highlighted some of the ways that women can support each other to drive gender equity, from the mental framework to the corporate framework to the policy framework, and how it takes sponsors, both men and women, as well as courageous, bold businesses to allow women to succeed.

She added how encouraging it was to be in Singapore. “Here, we are not only at the forefront of innovation, but also at the forefront of driving gender parity,” she said, highlighting that “there are more women in tech here than anywhere else in the world, and this is something to be proud of, but as we also heard, something to continue evolving.”

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