Best of 2024: The women making headlines in Singapore and beyond

Nothing sparks a flurry of thought-leadership posts on social media quite like the approach of a new year. If you’ve had your fill of navel-gazing, mindful, and overly demure throwbacks from the past year, consider this look back at women who made headlines in 2024 for a dose of inspiration.

Gisele Pelicot: The face of courage

It was a betrayal so unfathomable that it galvanised an entire nation to reflect on how, over a decade, one woman in France was subjected to rape by more than 50 men while being drugged by her husband.

The abuse of 72-year-old Gisele Pelicot only came to light in 2020 when her former husband, Dominique Pelicot, was caught taking upskirt videos of women. Police investigations uncovered horrifying footage of the rapes on his computer.

Although Gisele had the right to anonymity, she was determined to make the trial public. She insisted on doing so to raise awareness about drug-facilitated sexual assault and to encourage other victims of sexual crimes to speak out. Gisele successfully appealed the judges’ initial decision to close the courtroom to the public during the screening of the videos documenting her rape.

“The shame is theirs,” she declared of the men accused of raping her.

Earlier this month, 72-year-old Dominique Pelicot and the majority of his 51 co-defendants were convicted of their crimes. Dominique was sentenced to a maximum of 20 years in prison, with no eligibility for early release until he has served at least two-thirds of the sentence.

In a report by Associated Press, Gisele, now a feminist icon, said: “I wanted all of society to be a witness to the debates that took place here. I never regretted making this decision. I have trust in our capacity to collectively project ourselves toward a future where all – women and men – can live in harmony, with respect and mutual understanding.”

Ho Ching: More powerful than Oprah and Beyonce

Whatever the context, being sandwiched between the likes of Taylor Swift (23), Oprah Winfrey (33), and Beyonce (35) is a pretty good place to be. 

The Forbes World’s Most Powerful Women list, published on 11 December, ranked Ho Ching at No. 32. Not too bad for the 71-year-old chairperson of Temasek Trust who invested over a quarter of Temasek funds in sectors ranging from life sciences to agribusiness, growing its portfolio by more than $422 billion. 

As the former CEO of Temasek Holdings, she oversaw an increase in the investor’s net portfolio value by more than four times – from $90 billion in 2004 to $381 billion as of the end of March 2021. The conglomerate currently has 13 offices in nine countries, and a $389 billion portfolio.

Other Singapore women mentioned in the list include OCBC Bank chief executive Helen Wong, who made her debut at 59th place, and Jenny Lee, a senior managing partner at venture capital firm Granite Asia, who moved up a spot to 96.

Taylor Swift: Influential beyond measure

Who could forget the Swiftonomics phenomenon that took the world by its jugular earlier this year? The pop singer’s Eras Tour reportedly raked in a record $2 billion in ticket sales worldwide, following 149 shows over 21 months. 

Even her haters couldn’t shake the influence of the 34-year-old – the first female act to headline six shows at the National Stadium – when over 368,000 Swifties descended onto Singapore from 2-9 March. A Bloomberg survey showed that economists projected a 2.9 per cent increase in Singapore’s gross domestic product (GDP) for the first quarter of 2024, equating to a growth of approximately $300-$400 million.

Wherever Swift goes, controversy follows. Following the success of her only concert in Asia, alleged political tensions arose over Singapore’s exclusive six-show deal with the pop star, as revealed by Thailand’s Prime Minister, Srettha Thavisin. 

A spokesperson for Thailand’s Prime Minister’s Office later released a statement, saying: “Singapore’s proposal was an approach that shows they dared to think and dared to act, successfully convincing Taylor Swift’s team to agree to an exclusive performance in Singapore, the only country in the region. That has benefited the country.”

Still, the deal stirred some unhappiness when a lawmaker in the Philippines remarked, “This isn’t what good neighbours do.”

When questioned by reporters during a visit to Melbourne, Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong responded that he did not see such a deal as being “unfriendly” to neighbouring countries.

In the words of Swift: We all need to calm down.

Yip Pin Xiu: SG’s most decorated Paralympian

Making Singapore proud at the Paris Paralympics is Singapore’s most decorated paralympian, Yip Pin Xiu. The backstroke swimmer, who has Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, is a six-time Paralympic gold medalist and four-time World Champion, and holds two world records in the 50m and 100m backstroke S2.

In October, Pin Xiu bagged $1 million at the Athletes Achievement Awards and Appreciation Ceremony for her two gold medals in the – you guessed it – 50m and 100m backstroke S2. 

The pool isn’t the only place where she’s made a splash. Between 2018 to 2020, she served as a Nominated Member of Parliament, where she spoke up on “more inclusion and integration in Singapore sports”.

In a 2019 speech during a parliamentary debate on the budget of the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth, she highlighted the benefits of integrating sporting models for disabled and able-bodied athletes, such as shared knowledge and expertise.

“The means might be different, but the spirit is the same. In spite of the different events we compete in, we share commonalities,” she said.

Recently, the 32-year-old made headlines when her pilot boyfriend, Bruce Boo, proposed during a dinner. “The year has been amazing and this is a cherry on top of a beautiful cake for me,” she wrote in an Instagram post.

Shanti Pereira: Not slowing down

She was on the fast track to the Paris Olympics before a knee injury put a halt to her training in April. This came after a winning streak in 2023, where the 27-year-old national sprinter won a historic 200m gold at the Hangzhou Asian Games in 2023 – Singapore’s first in 49 years.

After months of coping with and adjusting her training around her injury, Shanti Pereira failed to qualify in the 100m heats in August, finishing in 11.63 seconds (she had clocked 11.26 at the 2023 SEA Games) and placing 55th out of 72 runners. The disappointment was a bitter pill to swallow. However, Shanti, who has faced criticism over her track performance and once considered retiring from her athletic career in 2021, is taking it all in stride.

In fact, Her World’s Young Woman Achiever 2024 is looking ahead. She states in an interview with Her World: “All athletes have to go through this at some point in their journeys, but it does make us stronger. We learn a lot of things. We know what our bodies can and can’t handle, and it tests our mental resilience as well. 

“With all the hardships, we also can look at the positives. So right now I can say I am completely pain-free, and everything’s fine. I can restart fresh and aim towards more, better things happening in the next few years.”

Like Pin Xiu, Shanti may soon be starting a new chapter with her fiance, sprinter-turned-lawyer Tan Zong Yang, who proposed to her in Stockholm earlier this year. A wedding date has not yet been set, but stay tuned for updates.

Nathania Ong: Shining bright on West End

From belting show tunes and ballads at community concerts to captivating audiences on London’s West End, actor Nathania Ong, 26, is living the dream. But it was not all smooth sailing for the Les Miserables star, who drew much acclaim for her portrayal of Eponine in the Victor Hugo epic. 

At 18, the recent graduate from Anglo-Chinese Junior College was rejected by all five drama schools she applied to in the UK. Alone and feeling dejected in London, Nathania decided to return to Singapore. She enrolled in a three-year degree course in Musical Theatre at Lasalle College of the Arts before an opportunity to audition for a spot at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts, one of the UK’s top musical theatre schools, set the stage for her blossoming acting career.

Today, the Her World November 2023 cover personality is not only the first Singaporean to play Eponine in the West End but also the first Singaporean to portray Eliza Hamilton in the West End staging of the hit musical Hamilton.

“I’m not throwing away my shot,” she announced on Instagram. Indeed, to borrow a line from the song Alexander Hamilton: “There’s a million things I haven’t done. But just you wait, just you wait.”

Kamala Harris: Bringing social media savvy to politics

Her final rally in Pennsylvania was so rousing that it spurred even more memes spoofing its decibel-decimating crowds, adding to an already meme-filled campaign that analysts said was aimed at younger voters.

While former US presidential candidate Kamala Harris might not have convinced some 77 million voters who punted their future with Donald Trump instead, her four-month campaign delivered a few viral moments during a contentious election. In July, singer Charli XCX tweeted, “Kamala IS brat”, referencing her latest album and sending the K-Hive into a frenzy. 

For context (and for those who lived through the Internet dial-up age), the 2024 definition of “brat” is described on Reddit as: “Women who speak their minds, know their own worth, and demand to be treated accordingly.”

Although Harris was eventually defeated by Trump and the Great American Dream, she had the last word in her concession speech: “Sometimes the fight takes a while. That doesn’t mean we won’t win. The important thing is: don’t ever give up.

“Don’t ever stop trying to make the world a better place.”