2 Great Women

From the impoverished mining town of Kampar, Perak, came two women.

Born in the same year, 1961, they went to the same local primary school and shared the same teachers, shared the same dreams.

One was an orphan who lived with somebody she called "grandmother"; at the age of 15 she left for Singapore where she supported herself through school and eventually graduated with a Chemistry degree from NUS.

After working 3 years for a major pharmaceutical company, she started her own company using money raised from selling her own car and condominium. After much hard work, her company eventually became listed on SESDAQ and is now worth more than S$1 billion. And she is the only woman to have made it to Forbes' Southeast Asia Rich List. Yes, she is Olivia Lum...

The other woman, on the other hand, got married, moved to Ipoh and became a stay-at-home mum to 4 children. After they grew up and went to college, she went out to work as a confinement nanny.

Yes, she is my confinement nanny. For the past 7 weeks, I have seen how hardworking these Kampar women are; she wakes up at 6 am to prepare herbs, make breakfast, bathe the baby, babysit for me so I can sleep in a little; starts preparing lunch at 10 am, washes up after I've eaten at 12; does the laundry, sweep and mop the floor, cleans the toilet if it's dirty; takes a short nap when the baby is asleep, sends SMSes to her children on her handphone; gets up at 4.30 to help me when my son reaches home from school; starts preparing dinner at 5 pm; makes milk and food for my son when he's hungry; serves hubby and me before rushing off to take a shower as she's in a complete sweat; comes back to clean up, wash up and then have her own dinner; carries the baby into the room (but not before changing her nappy - for the 5th or 6th time), helps to burp her after her milk feeds, rocks her to sleep whenever she wakes up, changes her clothes whenever they get wet or dirty, wakes up in the middle of the night whenever baby cries and carries her into my room (and back again after each feed), the list goes on.... Oh, and did I ever tell you she makes the yummiest char siew I have ever tasted?

As a stay-home-mum myself who often feel left out by government policies (which always seem to favour and esteem working women over SAHMs), I pondered upon these 2 very different women who display very similar qualities. Both are extremely hardworking. Both are dedicated to their work. Both know how to stay focused in order to achieve their goals. But one is a childless, high-achieving career woman while the other is a mother of 4 with no academic track record or corporate credentials on her resume.

Which type of woman does our Singapore government esteem more? They do seem to regard the first one as having an intrinsic economic value whereas the second one does not. After all, how do you put a monetary value on the work that a stay-home-mum does at home? Salary.com may have given us some clues, but it is difficult to arrive at an exact figure when formulating policies in this area. However, it would be great if our government could take that first step towards recognising stay-home-mums first, and the intrinsic economic value that they, too, contribute to the country. After all, we are nation-building too. :-)