The Singapore Council of Women's Organisations (SCWO) is an

umbrella organisation An umbrella organization is an association of (often related, industry-specific) institutions who work together formally to coordinate activities and/or pool resources. In business, political, and other environments, it provides resources and iden ...

founded in 1980 in order to coordinate the efforts of women's groups in

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

. The organisation represents many diverse women's groups and advocates for women's rights in the country. SCWO is also responsible for the

Singapore Women's Hall of Fame The Singapore Women's Hall of Fame is a virtual hall of fame that honors and documents the lives of historically significant women in Singapore. The hall is the creation of the Singapore Council of Women's Organisations (SCWO), and grew out of an ...

, provides workshops and other events in Singapore.

About

The SCWO works in several different areas to represent the interests of women in

and to coordinate the efforts of the various different women's groups it represents. This

also helps to support government policies in Singapore. It has advocated for change in

women's rights Women's rights are the rights and Entitlement (fair division), entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st c ...

in the country. The scope of SCWO is broad and encompasses diverse women's groups and viewpoints. Other things that SCWO is involved in includes providing workshops and training. It runs a

thrift store A charity shop is a retail establishment run by a charitable organization to raise money. Charity shops are a type of social enterprise. They sell mainly used goods such as clothing, books, music albums, shoes, toys, and furniture donated by ...

, opened in 2000, called New2U. SCWO also celebrates

International Women's Day International Women's Day (IWD) is celebrated on 8 March, commemorating women's fight for equality and liberation along with the women's rights movement. International Women's Day gives focus to issues such as gender equality, reproductive righ ...

and has created the

History

The SCWO had its roots in the late 1970s, when activists began to feel a need for an

for women's groups in Singapore. Caroline Lam was one of the first women to suggest creating such an organisation in 1978 and in November of that year, a meeting took place to consider different names. The first temporary committee was made up of Lam, Julie Tan, Anaman Tan, Seow Peck Leng, Maureen Tan, and Mary Ho. This group of women created a constitution for the proposed group and sent this to 24 different women's organisations in October of 1979. SCWO was formally founded in 1980 and was a "government-sanctioned" group. The first president of the group was Julie Tan. By 1999, the group represented 38 different women's organisations and had 94,000 members. In 2019, there were more than 50 groups and more than 500,000 women represented by SCWO.

Notable members

* Julie Tan, founding president * Constance Singam, served as president.

References

External links

Official site
{{Authority control 1980 establishments in Singapore Women's rights organizations based in Asia Singaporean women's rights activists