If employees have paid leave to care for their sick children, the same can be applied to employees with sick parents as well.

That was the call made by Labour MP Halimah Yacob's yesterday, after hearing the plea from unionist Rose Tan, a mother with two grown children, reported a Straits Times article this morning.

The 52-year-old port worker told a gathering of about 150 women unionists that her biggest worry is her elderly mother.

She was quoted in The Straits Times: 'My mother helped me look after my children when they were young - they are now aged 23 and 18 - so I feel the responsibility to be there for her as she struggles with aches and pains.'

At a meeting chaired by Senior Minister of State for National Development Grace Fu and Madam Halimah, NTUC's deputy secretary-general and organised by the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC), union members met to discuss how women can be helped to balance work and family.

LABOUR MP Halimah Yacob has called for women to be given a few days of paid leave to care for sick parents.

She made the call last night after hearing the plea from unionist Rose Tan, a mum of two grown children.

The 52-year-old port worker told a gathering of about 150 women unionists that her biggest worry is not about her children falling sick but her elderly mother.

The law currently gives each working parent two days of paid childcare leave, but Madam Halimah said that 'family care leave' will help ensure women are not pressured by other responsibilities at home.

She was quoted in The Straits Times as saying: "We need to think about family care leave...if you don't think about the issue of caring for elderly parents, it'll affect a woman's ability to have more children."

She also added that it would be better if such family leave were also extended to men, as a signal that family responsibility is not the sole domain of a woman.

But Ms Fu also sounded a note of caution, saying women should not be too quick to ask for it to be made a law. 'All this leave can work against us women."

Ms Foo is the former chief executive officer (CEO) of PSA International (Southeast Asia and Japan).

However, both MPs agreed it was possible to balance work and children, although the trade- off is 'almost zero personal time'.

For the full report, read today's copy of The Straits Times