Women
Women and the Typewriter in Singapore’s Herstories
The humble typewriter helped women become better educated, enter the workforce and contribute to society.
How Chinese Buddhist Women Shaped the Food Landscape in Singapore
Women who practised a particular form of Buddhism set up popular vegetarian restaurants in the 1940s and 50s that met the needs of local Buddhists and also helped promote vegetarianism.
The Kamala Club: Planting the Seeds of a Pioneering Women’s Organisation
Vandana Aggarwal traces the origins of a venerable association for Indian women and the role it played in their lives.
Wong Din Haan: A Pioneer Educator
Wong Din Haan, who founded a girls’ school in Singapore, was also a champion for women’s rights.
Siti Radhiah’s Cookbooks for the Modern Malay Woman
A number of cookbooks written in the 1940s and 1950s helped expand the traditional Malay culinary repertoire, as Toffa Abdul Wahed tells us.
A Different Sky: The Other Side of the Looking Glass
Meira Chand explores the challenges of writing historical fiction.
Marjorie Doggett: Photographer of Singapore
Edward Stokes reflects on the life and work of Marjorie Doggett, a pioneering photographer.
When Women Were Commodities
Brothels in colonial Singapore, with its large male migrant population, did a roaring trade. Adeline Foo examines the lives of the unfortunate girls and women who were sold into prostitution.
Snakes, Tigers and Cannibals: Ida Pfeiffer’s Travels in Southeast Asia
Travelling alone across Southeast Asia in the 19th century, Ida Pfeiffer encountered human heads put out to dry and faced off angry cannibals. John van Wyhe recounts the adventures of this remarkable woman.
Georgette Chen: Artist Extraordinaire
Sara Siew examines the link between visual art and the written word through the fascinating story of Singaporean artist Georgette Chen.
Mrs Dare and Her Magnificent Driving Machine
The intrepid Mrs G.M. Dare – true to her name – was Singapore’s first woman driver. In April 1907, she embarked on a 686-mile road trip across the Malay Peninsula.
The Modern Malayan Home
Along with the introduction of running water and electricity at the turn of the 20th century were advertisements featuring modern home appliances. Georgina Wong has the story.
Life Lessons in a Chetty Melaka Kitchen
Thrift, hard work and resilience are qualities that can be nurtured through food. Chantal Sajan recalls the legacy of her grandaunt.
An Ode to Two Women
Acclaimed poet and playwright Robert Yeo pays tribute to his daughter and a noted author in chapter two of his work-in-progress sequel to his memoir Routes.
Blazing a Trail: The Fight for Women’s Rights in Singapore
The Singapore Council of Women was the city’s first female civil rights group that took bold steps to champion laws affecting women. Phyllis Chew documents its hard-won victories.
Globetrotting Mums: Then and Now
Bonny Tan interweaves her own experiences as a modern Singaporean mother travelling and living abroad with those of two Victorian-era Englishwomen.
Warrior Women: The Rani of Jhansi Regiment
A band of extraordinary women rose above oppression and poverty in Malayan plantations to overthrow the British in colonial India. Meira Chand has the story.
Hunting Down the Malayan Mata Hari
Ronnie Tan pieces together the fascinating story of Lee Meng, the Malayan Communist Party female agent who headed its courier network for a brief period in 1952.
Blooming Lies: The Vanda Miss Joaquim Story
Is the Vanda Miss Joaquim a human-made hybrid or a happy accident? In this cautionary tale, Nadia Wright, Linda Locke and Harold Johnson recount how fiction becomes truth when it is repeated often enough.
Recipes for the Ideal Singaporean Female
From cooking, cleaning and becoming a good mother to outsourcing housework as careers for women took off. Sheere Ng charts how home economics lessons have evolved over the years.
Women on a Mission
Female missionaries in colonial Singapore have made their mark in areas such as education, welfare and health services. Jaime Koh looks at some of these intrepid trailblazers.
A Lifetime of Labour: Cantonese Amahs in Singapore
Cheah Hwei-Fe’n examines the impact of print media on the time-honoured craft of Peranakan embroidery and beadwork.
Beneath the Glitz and Glamour: The Untold Story of the “Lancing” Girls
Cheah Hwei-Fe’n examines the impact of print media on the time-honoured craft of Peranakan embroidery and beadwork.
Writing from the Periphery: Dorothy Cator in British North Borneo
Janice Loo explains how the travel writings by women such as Dorothy Cator reveal the complex relationships between colonisers and the colonised.
Writing from the Periphery: Dorothy Cator in British North Borneo
Janice Loo explains how the travel writings by women such as Dorothy Cator reveal the complex relationships between colonisers and the colonised.
Punkahs Everywhere
One of the great travel writers of the 19th century, Isabella Bird was 47 when she visited Singapore. She had just spent several months exploring Japan and was about to embark on a journey through the Malay Peninsula. In between, she made a brief stop in Singapore and wrote about it in a letter to her sister in Edinburgh.
A Quiet Revolution: Women and Work in Industrialising Singapore
The role of women in Singapore’s nation-building efforts in the post-Independence years is sometimes overlooked. Janice Loo examines the impact that women have had on the nation’s development.
First Words: Women Poets from Singapore
Poems written by Singapore’s women writers in the 1950s to 1970s depict both their personal and national struggles. Gracie Lee highlights these poets and the literary works that captured the sentiment of the times.
A Journey into Memory
Meira Chand shares with us her experience writing A Different Sky ; what it was like to study the memories of others – and what it was like to make them hers.
My Memories of Reading
Each book is a memory, a reminder of the person we were when we read it. Here, Claire Tham shares with us the books she remembers – the ones that shaped her thoughts and her writing, and ultimately the person she became.
