Don't give up: Single mother soldiers on after feeding four children on $70 a day

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An honorable member of the Coffee Shop Has Just Posted the Following:

https://sg.news.yahoo.com/don-t-sing...100911263.html

Don't give up: Single mother soldiers on after feeding four children on $70 a day

Yahoo Newsroom – Thu, Jul 30, 2015








Jo (pictured above) managed to increase her income as a part-time cleaner after initially struggling a year ago to feed her four children on a salary of S$70 a day (Photo: Helpling)

By: Shane Tan
Jo, 43, a single mother of four, was getting by on S$70 a day working gruelling 12-hour days as a factory assistant just a year ago. She had been divorced twice due to a domestic struggle, and was left to become the sole breadwinner of the family.

Financial difficulties were the biggest challenge of all for her during that period. “I met many financial difficulties. Job-wise, it wasn’t stable. Sometimes there would be work, other times there wouldn’t be any work. I had trouble with paying rent. I tried to solve my problems by trying to find more work and earning more money,” she said in Chinese to Yahoo! Singapore.

Her drive to find more work paid off when she was hired at a recruitment drive as a part-time cleaner at Helpling, a home cleaning startup founded in Germany. She has since become one the most requested cleaners among Helpling’s clientele, taking home an income of more than S$2,000 a month.

With a higher pay and flexible working hours to accommodate her family life, she has more time with her children now. “My time is a lot more free now; I get a lot more time to myself and my kids. I start from about 8am to 6pm, depending on the number of cleaning jobs I take up. Sometimes, I can finish my cleaning jobs by 4 or 5pm,” she said.

Single mothers getting lesser benefits than married mothers?

With 7,525 divorces and annulments in 2013 alone according to the Singapore Department of Statistics, there are many other single-parent families out there. Some may be struggling to make ends meet, like Jo initially did.

Over the last few years, economic inequality has rapidly come to public consciousness and become a mainstream political issue. Much of the attention has focused on labour market forces like the erosion of the middle class, lavish pay scales of top management and discussions on income inequality.

But somewhat under the radar — changes in family structures are also perpetuating economic inequality by broadening income gaps and setting up barriers to upward mobility.

Most university graduates are increasingly likely to marry other university graduates, compounding their advantages in pay. The Singapore Department of Statistics report shows that between 2003 and 2013, 79 per cent of university-educated grooms married brides with similar qualifications in civil marriages, while 60 per cent did so in Muslim marriages.

Jo’s situation, where she has to raise four children on a single income, is a stark comparison.

Currently, working married mothers are able to claim benefits such as child relief and the Baby Bonus cash gift. Single mothers are also only entitled to half of the 16-week paid maternity leave that married mothers are entitled to. Paid maternity leave would be especially helpful for single-mothers like Jo, to allow mothers to receive income while being able to look after their children.

Things might be looking up though, as a review of the discrepancies in benefits is under way. Minister of Social and Family Development, Mr Tan Chuan-Jin revealed in an interview on Monday that he had asked his colleagues to review the policies when he joined the ministry in April, and he hopes to make an announcement on it before the Budget next year.

This is a departure from the sentiments of the previous Minister of Social and Family Development, Mr Chan Chun Sing. Chan said in January this year, “These additional benefits are given to encourage and support parenthood within the context of marriage,” in reply to Nominated MP Kuik Shiao-Yin’s query on whether single mothers can be entitled to the same benefits married mothers enjoy.

When asked in the interview if he thought Singapore society is now prepared for change, Minister Tan said, “My sense is that the public understands and sympathises with single unwed mothers.”

=> In other words, he is attributing the PAP's discrimination against single mums to be due to SGs. TRUE? Fancy paying the ministers millions and millions year after year for them to decide to drag their feet in acting.

Knowing the struggles of coming from a financially-challenged background, Jo was happy to give back by providing cleaning services for Project Facelift households, a programme to rectify serious home improvement issues faced by needy Boon Lay residents.

Jo has sage advice for other single parents.

“Putting my child in a childcare centre helped me. Get a job so you can work and earn money. Don’t give up. Be willing to work at any job or work longer hours. Approach your MP for help with childcare arrangements. You have to plan for the future,” she said.


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