“Empowering women and promoting gender equality is crucial to accelerating sustainable development. Ending all forms of discrimination against women and girls is not only a basic human right, but it also has a multiplier effect across all other development areas.”³²

“Ensuring universal access to sexual and reproductive health, and affording women equal rights to economic resources such as land and property, are vital targets to realizing this goal. There are now more women in public office than ever before, but encouraging more women leaders across all regions will help strengthen policies and legislation for greater gender equality.”³³

According to the 2014 Human Development Report by the UN, Singapore ranks 13th out of the 155 countries surveyed, and comes up as the top Asian nation for gender equality. This is measured through the differences between men and women in reproductive health*, empowerment** and labour participation rates.

Despite the high rankings on an international level, there are still several gender gaps that needs to be addressed including equal pay, representation at senior management level and ease of retiring from the workforce. Singaporean women are still espoused with more caregiving and households responsibilities, which are frequently associated with the many issues mentioned above. These issues are further amplified when it comes to vulnerable minority groups such as single mothers, LBT groups and women with disabilities.

Read more: 5 gender gaps that Singapore women still face in 2015
Read more: 5 biggest challenges of single mothers

*Reproductive health looks at maternal mortality and teenage pregnancy rates
**Empowerment takes into account parliamentary seats held by women and how they figure in higher education

• On average, Singapore women earn 91 cents to $1 earned by Singapore men³⁴
• 64% of women, compared with 38% of men, rely on their immediate families to assist with medical expenses.³⁵