Women’s rights: why Singapore wants to change the way we think about gender equality
In a bold new approach to women’s rights the city state wants to ‘re-tune’ the mindsets of a new generation so ‘every girl and boy imbibes gender equality’
Why now, what took so long, and what should be done while we wait for enlightened young minds to grow up?
In Singapore, more women enrol in local universities than men. Women in the city state are also entitled to four months of paid maternity leave – something not guaranteed in the United States – and, since 1969, have had the right to terminate unwanted pregnancies. The number of elected women in Parliament has steadily increased over the years – 28 female lawmakers now account for close to 30 per cent of the House, up from 23.5 per cent before the general election in July.
Last year, the United Nations Human Development Report ranked Singapore 11th out of 162 countries for gender equality, beating the US, Canada and Spain, which recently passed a decree that companies must disclose the gender breakdown of staff wages. But the Singapore government wants to do more. Last month, it announced a wide-ranging review of women’s issues to tackle gender inequality and ensure mindsets change, as “every boy and girl must grow up imbibing the value of gender equality”.
The announcement was lauded by women’s rights advocates in the country of 5.7 million. The NGO Aware, which has been in operation for 35 years and was formerly known as the Association of Women for Action and Research, said it was “most exciting” that there was an “approach to review the underlying values and cultural mindset towards women and gender equality, instead of looking only at issues in the short-term”. It suggested gender equality be enshrined in the constitution and urged reviewers to look at all issues, not just those that “only affect privileged women”.
Soon, other activists also announced their wish lists. Those ran the gamut from fixing the gender pay gap and ageism towards to women, to having more women on boards, legislating against gender discrimination, improving sex education, promoting gender-neutral language and even requiring women to do national service like the men (who must do two years).
Women in the Orchard Road shopping district of Singapore. Photo: AFP
Sociologist Aline Wong, formerly the women‘s rights Representative from Singapore to the Asean Commission on the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Women in Children, said other factors should be considered when assessing gender equality across Asia.
For example, the Philippines and Thailand had many well-known businesswomen, but they tended to have taken over family businesses while Singapore’s businesswomen tended to be self-made professionals, she said. And while Indonesia and India had ministers for women, unlike Singapore, given the large size of the countries, the issue was whether decisions and programmes actually reached women in outlying rural areas, said Wong, a former lawmaker with the ruling People’s Action Party and senior minister of state for education from 1995 to 2001.
