Reply by 2M Indranee Rajah in response to adjournment motion by MP Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang on "a more inclusive workplace for breastfeeding mothers"

Aug 2, 2022

Mdm Deputy Speaker, I thank Mr Louis Ng for sharing his suggestions on how we can create more inclusive workplaces for nursing mothers.
Women are an important part of our workforce. Over the years, the number of working mothers has increased, and more women are choosing to continue breastfeeding after returning to work. The World Health Organisation and Health Promotion Board recommend breastfeeding for up to two years or more after a child’s birth to meet evolving nutritional requirements.
It is not easy for working mothers to continue breastfeeding, on top of juggling other work and family duties. We empathise with them. To support them, the Government takes a two-pronged approach by:

Let me elaborate.

Lactation Facilities
First, legislating and incentivising the provision of lactation facilities; and
Second, promoting an inclusive, supportive work culture for nursing mothers.
We recognise that nursing mothers need access to clean, comfortable and private spaces where they can breastfeed their babies or pump milk. This is why we have progressively expanded building requirements for lactation rooms over the years.
In 2014, BCA introduced requirements for new buildings and existing buildings undergoing major retrofits to provide family-friendly features such as lactation rooms. These requirements applied to building types that are visited frequently by families, including public infrastructure such as transport hubs, and private retail developments such as shopping malls exceeding 10,000 sqm in gross floor area (GFA). In 2020, BCA extended the requirement to more building types, including offices and business parks exceeding 10,000 sqm in GFA.
These regulatory enhancements resulted from regular reviews of the Code on Accessibility in the Built Environment. The latest review that led to the expanded lactation room requirement was carried out by a committee comprising representatives from social service agencies, trade associations and chambers, academia and government agencies. The committee took two years to consult widely, study the needs of various segments of society and requirements in other jurisdictions, and take in industry feedback.
Specifically on lactation facilities, the committee considered feedback that the demand for lactation rooms will vary depending on each building’s user profile. For example, the premises of a company that employs more women of childbearing age will need to have more lactation facilities. On the other hand, it may be impractical for a small building to have a room permanently set aside for lactation due to space constraints. The committee’s decision to set aside one lactation room as the minimum requirement and a GFA threshold of 10,000 sqm for offices and business parks was to strike a balance between the need for such facilities and the buildings’ constraints, especially with older and smaller buildings.
We will continue to review the requirements from time to time. We will also take the Member’s feedback into consideration for our next review of the Code, which will commence next year.
Beyond legislation, the Government also encourages and supports building owners to voluntarily provide more lactation facilities based on the needs of each building. We are heartened to see building owners from both the public and private sectors going beyond the Code requirements to cater to their users.
For example, CapitaSpring is a large commercial development with three lactation rooms. Several developments with less than 10,000 sqm of GFA, such as Design Orchard and Raffles Holland V, have also provided lactation rooms despite not being required to do so.
Building owners who wish to retrofit their buildings with family-friendly features such as lactation rooms can tap on BCA’s Accessibility Fund (AF), which co-funds up to 60% of the construction cost of such features. To support more of such progressive building owners, BCA extended the AF on 1st August to all buildings built between 1990 and 2014, when the requirements for family-friendly features were first introduced.
In recent years, alternatives to conventional lactation rooms have emerged. For example, the Government co-funded a pilot of free-standing, ready-built lactation pods by local start-up Go!Mama for breastfeeding mothers visiting Sentosa. The pods are designed to be easily deployed to any location with an electrical power point, and are targeted at premise owners who may have limited space to provide permanent lactation facilities. Such solutions will provide more options for premise owners to meet nursing mothers’ needs.

Inclusive Workplace Culture
Mdm Deputy Speaker, we recognise that infrastructural solutions alone are insufficient to support nursing mothers at work. From the stories that the Member has told, it is quite clear that mindsets are the key to this as well. More importantly, our work culture needs to be inclusive and supportive.
Our Government has implemented a comprehensive package of measures to support parents in their marriage and parenthood journey. Our working mothers are provided 16 weeks of paid maternity leave, six days of paid childcare leave, and six days of unpaid infant care leave in their child’s first year. These leave schemes provide mothers time away from work to care for their newborns. We will continue to review these measures to address their needs.
Working mothers experience various challenges juggling work and family. Beyond legislation, they need understanding bosses and colleagues. It is in the employers’ interest to take care of the needs of all employees, including nursing mothers, as this improves staff retention and morale. It is also important that co-workers support one another, especially through difficult periods such as when mothers return to work.
Where there are infrastructural constraints such as a lack of space for dedicated lactation facilities, employers can bridge the gap with creative solutions and support from others in the workplace. Nursing mothers have shared stories of how their employers have repurposed existing office spaces into nursing facilities where there were previously none, and adjusted meetings and work schedules to accommodate nursing breaks. For example, Infineon Technologies supports nursing mothers at work by providing private lactation rooms and flexible work arrangements, such as hybrid work and flexi-hours.
Together with our tripartite partners, we are supporting employers to do more for nursing mothers at work. We will continue to promote best practices with the Employer’s Guide to Breastfeeding at the Workplace. NTUC also supports companies to adopt family-friendly practices under their ‘Better Workplace’ campaign, which includes the provision of nursing facilities. These companies can also participate in the Made For Families initiative to be recognised as supportive employers.
Fostering a family-friendly work culture requires everyone’s support – supervisors, colleagues and the wider community. Mindsets need to shift and this could take time. But it must be done.
Only when mindsets shift to genuinely embrace employees’ diverse needs, will we see real change on the ground. Let us therefore strive towards a workplace ethos of caring for our employees and co-workers, mutual trust and a spirit of give and take.

Conclusion
Mdm Deputy Speaker, creating inclusive workplaces requires partnership with many stakeholders to provide a supportive ecosystem for all employees, including nursing mothers.
We are committed to our whole-of-nation efforts to build a fairer and more inclusive society for all Singaporeans. We will also continue to engage stakeholders and regularly review to see how we can better support women, both at the workplace and in their parenting journey.