Singaporeans invited to talk about marriage, parenthood with political office holders

SINGAPORE — The Government is looking to speak with around 400 Singaporeans about how the Covid-19 pandemic has affected their views on marriage and parenthood in a series of conversations that will run from April to September.

The sessions will be led by Ms Indranee Rajah, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office, and Ms Sun Xueling, Minister of State for Social and Family Development, and Education, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said in a statement on Wednesday (March 17).

Ms Indranee said in the statement: “Many Singaporeans want to start and raise families. But I know the pandemic has also caused some to rethink their plans. My colleagues and I want to better understand how we can help you to continue with your life plans in spite of the pandemic.”

Together with other political office holders, she and Ms Sun aim to engage about 400 people. 

Participants will get to share their concerns and challenges as they start and raise families, and exchange ideas to address these challenges, the statement added.

The series of conversations, titled “Building a Singapore that is Made For Families”, is jointly organised by the National Population and Talent Division in the Strategy Group, PMO, the Ministry of Social and Family Development, and the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth.

To ensure a diversity of views, PMO said it hopes to have Singaporeans at different stages of their marriage and parenthood journey, and who live in different parts of Singapore, participate in the conversations. 

It added that all Singaporeans, their partners and parents of a Singaporean child are welcome to register.

Six online sessions will be organised for participants in the following life stages:

• Those who are dating, engaged or married without children
• Parents with children aged up to six years old
• Parents with children in primary school

PMO added that there will also be another online session for those who would like to share their views on issues related to fertility, such as awareness, screening and treatment. 

Interested parties who wish to take part in the conversations can find more information and register at go.gov.sg/families-convo from Wednesday.

Shortlisted participants will be notified about two weeks before the start of each conversation, PMO said.