The Workers' Party (WP) wants more done to address the gender wage gap and to help older women who find it difficult to retire because much of their labour went unpaid, its candidates said in the party's fifth e-rally last night.

Ms Tan Chen Chen, the WP's candidate for Punggol West SMC, said that women who leave the workforce to care for their children often lose out.

"In that window of about 10 years or so, she would lose prime parts of her career and there's little way of making up for that lost time," said Ms Tan, 38, in Mandarin.

Ms Tan, who has a three-month-old baby, was one of three candidates who took part in the opposition party's daily Hammer Show.

Associate Professor Jamus Lim and Ms Raeesah Khan, who are both being fielded in Sengkang GRC, and Aljunied GRC candidate Gerald Giam, were also on the panel, which was moderated by East Coast GRC candidate Nicole Seah.

Ms Khan, a social activist, said a woman's unpaid labour could affect her ability to retire. "There are a lot of women who spend their whole lives caregiving and taking on the burden of housework, and they don't see that reciprocated in their finances," said Ms Khan, 26.

"So we see women who are now at retirement age, not having enough funds to support them."

During the 40-minute discussion, the party also pointed to proposals in its manifesto to address these problems.

The WP has recommended that employers with 10 or more employees be required to report to the Manpower Ministry any difference in pay between men and women in roles with the same job description. The aggregated data, said the party, could give the public a better idea of the problem and allow steps to be taken to address it.

In rounding off the discussion, Prof Lim, an economist, noted that in Asia, people may say that gender inequality is due to cultural norms.

"But I think we sell ourselves too short," said the 44-year-old. "One thing we have tried to explain in both our manifesto and in this panel is that we have a diversity of policies to try to ensure genuine diversity of representation in policymaking."