Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr Vivian Balakrishan's Written Replies to Parliamentary Questions, 20 March 2023

QUESTION

Mr Dennis Tan Lip Fong: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs as the second anniversary of the ASEAN Five-Point Consensus on the situation in Myanmar approaches, what is the Government’s position regarding the recent suggestion of carving out Myanmar from ASEAN.

REPLY

1       Myanmar remains a member of ASEAN.

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QUESTION

Ms He Ting Ru: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs (a) how many women serve at the Permanent Secretary, Deputy Secretary, Ambassador-at-large, Director-General and Deputy Director-General, Head of Mission and Deputy Head of Mission levels, and their equivalents in the Ministry; (b) what proportion does women account for at each of these levels respectively; and (c) what proportion does women account for amongst the foreign service officers and total Ministry’s staff respectively.

REPLY

1       Women constitute about half of the staff and a quarter of the senior appointments at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

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QUESTION

Ms He Ting Ru: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs (a) if any analyses have been done on whether there is a gender gap within the Ministry between men and women in (i) positions of deputy director-general or above (ii) terms of attrition rates and (iii) the reasons for the differences between the point at which attrition rates are highest; and (b) if so, what are the findings.

REPLY

1       Currently, half of MFA officers are women. The proportion of women at superscale grades has doubled from 15% in 2010 to 29% in 2022. There is no significant difference in attrition between men and women in MFA. We acknowledge that the obligation to serve multiple postings overseas is especially disruptive for MFA officers with spouses and young children – particularly women who bear a disproportionate burden of caregiving.

2       The Ministry regularly reviews our HR policies, including terms for overseas postings, to provide more conducive environment for officers to realise their career aspirations and fulfil their family obligations. We expect more women to take on senior roles in the Ministry as we need all the talent we can recruit, nurture and deploy in the Foreign Service.

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MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS

SINGAPORE

20 MARCH 2023