SINGAPORE - President Halimah Yacob visited the National Museum on Sunday (March 7) where she toured exhibitions about the significant contributions made by Singaporean women over the years, ahead of International Women's Day on Monday.

"To celebrate women's achievements over the decades, the galleries look back to the period when women began to occupy more visible public roles previously dominated by men, in response to changes in society and increasing opportunities available to them," said Madam Halimah in a Facebook post.

She toured two of the museum's permanent galleries - Modern Colony and Goh Seng Choo - that showcased the progress made by Singaporean women in society and watched a performance by an all-women ensemble from the Singapore Chinese Orchestra to commemorate International Women's Day.

The first gallery explores how affluent Straits-born and migrant Chinese women carved out distinctive identities for themselves and navigated the challenges they faced during the 1920s and 1930s.

"With this identity came new trends and ideas that shaped modern Singapore society," added Madam Halimah.

Some of these women eventually made important contributions to areas such as education and charity and helped improve women's welfare at the time.

The second gallery houses the exhibition "A Voyage of Love and Longing", which also shows the role of women in sea voyages as well as collective memories of these departures and returns.

Madam Halimah noted that the theme of this year's International Women's Day calls for women to challenge and call out gender inequality. She said: "We hope to see greater support for gender equality and encouraging conversations on the changing roles of women in society."

Admission to the galleries is free for Singapore citizens and permanent residents.