Constance Singam (born D'Cruz in 1936) is a Singaporean activist and writer. Singam's career as an activist started later in life, when she was widowed. She earned a degree and became active in women's rights group, AWARE, which she was president of for 3 separate terms. Singam was also involved in other groups in Singapore and later, wrote about her many experiences. Singam was inducted into the

Singapore Women's Hall of Fame The Singapore Women's Hall of Fame is a virtual hall of fame that honors and documents the lives of historically significant women in Singapore. The hall is the creation of the Singapore Council of Women's Organisations (SCWO), and grew out of an ...

in 2015.

Biography

Singam was born in

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

as Constance D'Cruz on 1936. At age five, she and her family went to visit family in

Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile ...

but stayed until 1948 because of the

Japanese occupation of Singapore , officially , was the name for Colony of Singapore, Singapore when it was occupied and ruled by the Empire of Japan, following the fall and surrender of British military forces on 15 February 1942 during World War II. The Japanese military ...

. Singam married journalist, N.T.R. Singam, at age 24 and was widowed by 42. She became more independent after her husband died, getting a

driver's license A driver's license, driving licence, or driving permit is a legal authorization, or the official document confirming such an authorization, for a specific individual to operate one or more types of motorized vehicles—such as motorcycles, ca ...

and earning an honours degree in

literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...

. She went to

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

to study literature and returned to Singapore in 1984, having earned a Master of Arts from

Curtin University Curtin University (previously Curtin University of Technology and Western Australian Institute of Technology) is an Australian public university, public research university based in Bentley, Western Australia, Bentley, Perth, Western Australia. ...

. Singam joined AWARE in 1986. Singam served as president of AWARE for three different terms, from 1987 to 1989, 1994 to 1996 and lastly from 2007 to 2009. In 1990, she was elected as president of the

Singapore Council of Women's Organisations The Singapore Council of Women's Organisations (SCWO) is an umbrella organisation founded in 1980 in order to coordinate the efforts of women's groups in Singapore. The organisation represents many diverse women's groups and advocates for women's r ...

(SCWO). She was active in creating the Society Against Family Violence (SAFV) in 1991. In 1998, she was active in forming The Working Committee (TWC) which supported activism in Singapore. In 2002, Singam started a group that later became called Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2), which worked to help foreign workers in Singapore. TWC3 was started in 2014 in order to recognize Singapore's activists. These awards were called the Singapore Advocacy Awards. In 2015, Singam was inducted into the

Work

Singam's

memoir A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based on the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autob ...

, ''Where I Was: A Memoir From the Margins'' (2013) describes her life living in Singapore as part of many intersecting marginalized groups. Her 2016 book, ''Never Leave Home Without Your Chilli Sauce'' celebrates Singapore's cuisine and culture. Singam was a co-editor of ''The Art of Advocacy in Singapore'' (2017).

References

{{Authority control 1936 births Singaporean women activists 21st-century Singaporean women writers 21st-century Singaporean writers 20th-century Singaporean women writers 20th-century Singaporean writers Curtin University alumni Living people Monash University alumni