In Singapore, a new study by the Singapore Council of Women's Organisations quietly reframes a familiar question: not how women return to work, but when support for that return should begin. Released Friday, the research reveals that the moment of departure — not the moment of job-seeking — is where intervention matters most, pointing to a deeper truth about how societies value caregiving and the careers it interrupts. With 80 percent of women on career breaks wishing to return, yet 70 percent believing those breaks count against them, the study maps a gap not just in programmes, but in the ar