SINGAPORE — The work Singapore has put in to treat women with respect has set it apart from some other countries, where, in some cases, women are even mistreated in Parliament, said Minister for Home Affairs and Law K Shanmugam in Parliament on Tuesday (April 5).
on women’s development for Singapore is an"important marker" in the road to equality for women, and while the country has yet to arrive at its destination, it knows the road to travel. “Where we are in Singapore…is not preordained.
It is because of the choices we made , and the work we have put in to treat women properly with respect.” Mr Shanmugan was one of nine political office holders, along with 27 Members of Parliament from both sides of the aisle, three Nominated MPs and one non-constituency MP, who spoke during a marathon debate that lasted close to 10 hours on a motion on women’s development for Singapore to move towards “a fairer and more inclusive society” for men and women in workplaces and at home., which was endorsed by Parliament on Tuesday, maps out 25 action plans to take place over the next decade.for women aged 21 to 35 regardless of their marital status, reducing the financial strain on caregivers by enhancing the Home Caregiving Grant and normalising flexible workplace arrangements.In Singapore, let me tell you, if you beat your wives, or vice versa, the police will come looking for you.During his speech, Mr Shanmugam cited several countries as examples where women are either put at a disadvantage or have their worth diminished. In the United States, for example, he said there are many instances in which women have to travel outside of their state to get an abortion owing to tighter rules on the procedure. “The issue of a woman's right to medical procedure; the autonomy of her body versus her life — this is subject to laws in many countries, including Singapore, but it gets difficult when the issue becomes politicised andIn Singapore, he said a woman's autonomy is given considerable weight. Over in Australia, he highlighted several allegations about how women were mistreated in the country’s Parliament. According to a report, not only had one MP sexually harassed a female victim, but others had made demeaning remarks towards them. Mr Shanmugan said that Singapore’s law would never have allowed such acts to have taken place, and the consequences of breaching them would be “quite severe”. Closer to home, he spoke of how Malaysia’s Women, Family and Community Development Ministry, in an attempt to give advice for ensuring harmonious households, told women in 2020 to mimic the voice of Japanese cartoon character, “Doraemon”, when speaking to their husbands. "As I understand it, Doraemon is a male robot cat. So not quite sure why women should speak like a male robot cat." The Malaysian ministry also told women that they should “giggle coyly” and avoid wearing home clothes and to put on make-up, as well as to use humorous words and avoid nagging, said Mr Shanmugam. He added that last year, a female Malaysian minister told men, among other things, to strike their wives gently and to “discipline them if they do not stop unruly behaviour”. “In Singapore, let me tell you, if you beat your wives, or vice versa, the police will come looking for you,” he said. Mr Shanmugam said that up till 1965, modern-day Singapore and Malaysia were the same country with largely similar cultures. “The roads we took diverged after 1965. These were deliberate choices, and they led to very different results, and that is worth reflecting on to consider carefully what part we should continue on, and what we can do to strengthen the respect and the idea of equality for women,” said Mr Shanmugam.Other speakers gave their takes on how Singapore should progress as a society — in particular, how an equal partnership between women and men can be promoted. In her opening speech, Minister of Communications and Information Josephine Teo, touching on her struggles as a young working mother, said she not only feared failing in her duties as a mother but her career opportunities and how to care for her ageing parents.Mrs Teo said that while legislation can solve problems related to caregiving or workplace fairness, no law can dictate the norms in a family or detailed practices of workplaces. Were it not for her husband who stepped up as an involved father, or brothers that helped to take up caregiving duties for her mother, she would not have been able to work with relative peace of mind. She added she was fortunate her former bosses had also given her room to accommodate both personal passions and circumstances. “This is why I firmly believe men’s support for equal partnership with women is so important,” said Mrs Teo Ministers such as Minister for Social and Family Development Masagos Zulkifli and Health Minister Ong Ye Kung agreed with those sentiments in their respective speeches. In a similar vein, both Parliamentary Secretary for Health Rahayu Mahzam, and Minister of State for Culture, Community and Youth Low Yen Ling spoke about the need to move caregiving responsibilities away from one that is predominately borne by women, to one that is shared by men equally. To that end, Minister of State for Manpower Gan Siow Huang said that the greater availability of flexible work arrangements can make a big difference as to how caregiving arrangements can be sorted out.Mr Ong added that there are biases which are deeply embedded in our social practices and constructs which cannot be undone in one generation. “But no matter how entrenched, that past is challenged by the present. There are at least three driving forces. Number one education, number two technology. They combine in a powerful way to force a rethink of the status quo,” he said. Mr Ong said education has led to equal opportunities for women, and technological advancements have allowed them to enter professions that would typically require physical strength as a prerequisite. The third driving force, he said, is society’s willingness to change the status quo, and this will require everyone to realise treating both women and men equally is better for the welfare of their families and loved ones. “This will take time, and the Government will have a key role by enacting policies such as universal access to education, the Women's Charter, and all the various recommendations in the White Paper.”Aside from urging men to step up and do more to support women, other ministers raised suggestions on how to improve women’s safety. For example, Ms Sim Ann, the Senior Minister of State for National Development, said that while Singapore’s streets are safe, the “exploitative and backward mindset” towards women has found new means of expression in the internet age. Such harm, she said, can also be weaponised in a malicious and cynical manner to threaten and inflict trauma on individual women, so much so that more women than men feel unsafe from gender-based online harms. If left unchecked, Ms Sim said online harms that promote exploitative and disrespectful attitudes towards women and girls may discourage women from being active online.Rather, it could mean avoiding important and meaningful undertakings – such as leadership roles or advocacy in real life – that might increase one’s chances of encountering haters who wield online harms as a weapon.“The digital safety gap must be closed. Our women and girls must feel as safe and confident online as they do in real life.”
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