Foo was steadily climbing the corporate ladder as a veteran banker, until health scares, deaths of close family members, and a shake-up at work in 2017 made her rethink her life’s purpose
As Singapore is setting an example for women’s social and economic progress, Junie Foo, as the president of the Singapore Council of Women’s Organisations (SCWO) is in the thick of sharing the nation’s experiences and learnings with women’s groups from around the world. The debate in parliament on the Singapore Women’s Development: Towards a Fairer and More Inclusive Society white paper—which addresses workplace opportunities, support for caregivers, and physical safety for women—had garnered international attention. As a result, SCWO recently hosted 40 delegates from South Africa who wanted to look into the state of women’s affairs in Singapore and how the council was formed.
“We unpacked the 1970s to 2000s for them,” says Foo, in addition to sharing the organisation’s experience with promoting gender equality in the workplace. Since 2011, SCWO has been advocating for the increase of female representation on boards and in senior leadership roles through its BoardAgender initiative. As of June this year, women make up about 21 per cent of boards in the top 100 primary-listed companies on the Singapore Exchange and about 30 per cent on those of statutory boards, according to the Council for Board Diversity. Females on non-profit boards constitute a 29 per cent share.
On top of its advocacy work, BoardAgender launched its inaugural structured mentorship programme with male and female mentors from the various industries. This ushered in three women out of last year’s first cohort of mentees onto non‑profit boards. On the mentorship plan, Foo says, “We are building an ecosystem. If the mentors are on boards already, when someone calls looking for a new board member, they will have a ready name. They can sponsor their mentees. That lends a lot of weight.”
The voice of more than 60 member organisations consisting of over 600,000 individuals, SCWO is in a unique position to provide feedback on government policy. It runs Maintenance Support Central which provides support and assistance for clients who have difficulty in receiving spousal and/or child maintenance. “A lot of husbands feign unemployment or undeclare their income to skip payment,” says Foo of the findings. “And this affects the children’s education and disrupts the household.”
SCWO is currently conducting research on the welfare of caregivers, and whether these individuals, who have either been a lifelong caregiver or taken a break to do so, are financially prepared for retirement. “Suddenly your parents die, you realise you’re 60 years old. You don’t have enough savings and it’s hard to go back to work. That’s tough, you know?” says Foo.
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Over Zoom, the 54-year-old former banker radiates empathy and good humour. A trailblazing executive who became the first woman and non-Japanese to manage the corporate banking division Asia Oceania of Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, she recounts the surreal experience of quitting her job to jump into an unknown future. “I still remember the day: January 31, 2018. I was jobless the next day. I had to replace my 10-year-old car and thought, ‘Will they give me a loan?’ They asked for my last month’s pay, and I had to write retired or unemployed. I never had a problem with that. It allowed me to empathise more.”
For her entire 28-year banking career, Foo had steadily risen in the corporate hierarchy, until health scares, deaths of close family members, and a shake-up at work in 2017 made her rethink her life’s purpose. “It was one of those late nights and I was doing budgeting for the Asia Oceania bank branches, when I looked up and said to myself, ‘I can do better’. It was an epiphany.” It was also inspired by her faith.