Gender Discrimination in Patriarchal Singapore Draft 3

In his TED talk, Goldin (2009) talks about the unequal development of globalisation. As the world globalises, countries get wealthier and women are getting better education. However, not everyone experiences the same rate of development (Sen, 2002): the rich are getting richer, while the poor are getting poorer in most cases. Despite contributions from women in many countries, they are often not rewarded equally. Because of the patriarchal structure in Singapore, income disparity persists between genders. In order to address the socio-economic disparity between genders, laws need to be enacted to empower women.

Former Prime Minster of Singapore, Goh Chok Tong, once openly pointed out that "in a largely patriarchal society, minor areas where women are not accorded the same treatment should be expected so long as the welfare of women and of the family is protected. I would not regard them as 'pockets of discrimination' or 'blemishes' but as traditional areas of differential treatments" (Chan, 2000). With the government's stand on patriarchy, women often face negligence, if not discrimination in various aspects of life. This gender bias is reinforced by traditional Asian values where women are primary care-givers and homemakers. This led to past emphasis on the male counterparts attaining education, obtaining valuable skill sets for employment, and thus, creating a male dominant society.

Consequently, women face various social challenges throughout their lives. For example, their low levels of educational qualifications in the past and their primary roles as mothers and care-givers, women have been generally economically dependent on their spouses. As of 2012, life expectancy for women stands at 84.5 years while life expectancy for men is 79.9 years (SingStat, 2013). Hence, many of these women will face economic difficulties as they tend to outlive their spouses. Furthermore, the lower educational qualifications of women result in them being consigned to lowly skilled labour jobs, which in turn receive lower salaries. Some women may not even be able to find jobs due to their lack of qualifications, thus, being unemployed despite their willingness to work.

Despite a rise in the percentage of economically active women aged 15 and above from 49.6% in 2001 to 54.5% in 2011 (Tan, 2012), women do not earn equal paychecks compared to their male counterparts. Tan (2012) stated that in 2011 women in the services industry were earning on average SGD3728 to SGD5075 earned by men in the same industry. This is partly attributed to the fact that employers of women have to entitle both married and single women 8 weeks of paid maternity leave (Ministry of Manpower, 2014). The loss of productivity due to childbirth would incur great costs for the employers, especially over the course of the 8 weeks paid maternity leave. Furthermore, women employees do not necessarily enjoy equal medical benefits because it would be costly to provide such medical coverage in view of more women complications. From my past experience of being an insurance agent, women are required to pay a higher premium for their medical insurance due to the increased risk of breast cancer, cervix cancer and pregnancy complications, etc. Hence, employers do not have the incentives to pay women employees higher salaries.

In order to narrow the income gap between genders, certain measures can be put in place to improve women's social status. One such measure is to enact laws on equal pay for women. Although Singapore had ratified the International Labour Organisation Convention Number 100 on equal pay for men and women, women in the law profession, for example, have to increase their working hours in order to receive equal salaries as their male counterparts (Das, 2005). Despite its commitment in providing equal pay for equal wages, the lack of concrete laws on equal pay maintains the income gap.

Secondly, despite the increase in women's educational qualifications and income in recent years, men's income grew faster (Chan, 2000). Therefore, rather than just improving women's education, opportunities for workplace promotion should be on par with the male counterparts. By allowing women to take on more important roles, they are able to increase their income, narrowing the gap and improve their social standing.

Studies show that in countries where males help out with household chores, women generally enjoy higher social standing. However, in a traditionally male-dominant Asian society like Singapore, the change in attitude of men to help out in household chores seems to be implausible and this cannot be done through legislation.

Lastly, greater political attention can be given to civil societies that campaign for women rights such as AWARE and Singapore Council of Women's Organisation. By allowing such voices to be heard in politics, women's social status in Singapore can better be improved, narrowing the income gap as women receive equal treatment in the workplace. However, Singapore government employs a top-down approach in its policy making; the extent to which these civil societies can affect policies is determined by the government. The existence of such societies is generally seen as "gestural" and apolitical.

In conclusion, to narrow the gender income gap, women have to have an increase in their social standing in Singapore. However, this may be hard to come by given the strong stance on patriarchy in Singapore.

References

Chan, J. S. (2000). The status of women in a patriarchal state. In: Edwards, L. P. & Roces, M.      eds. (2000). Women in Asia. pp. 39-58. N.S.W.: Allen & Unwin.

Das, M. (2005). Gender In Justice - Women In The Law In Singapore. Retrieved   http://www.aware.org.sg/wp-content/uploads/Gender_In_Justice.pdf [Accessed: 3 March            2014].

Ministry of Manpower. (2014). Maternity leave. [online] Retrieved             http://www.mom.gov.sg/employment-practices/leave-and-holidays/Pages/maternity-           leave.aspx [Accessed: 3 March 2014].

Sen, A. (2002). How To Judge Globalism. The American Prospect, 13(1), 1-14. Retrieved             http://www2.econ.uu.nl/users/marrewijk/pdf/ihs/geo/sen%202000%20judge%20glob.pdf  [Accessed: 18 February 2014].

Statistic Singapore. (2013). Statistics Singapore - life expectancy at birth. [online] Retrieved            http://www.singstat.gov.sg/statistics/visualising_data/chart/Life_Expectancy_At_Birth.ht ml [Accessed: 3 March 2014].

Tan, L. L. (2012). Singapore Yearbook of Manpower Statistics, 2012. Singapore: Manpower          Research And Statistics Department Ministry Of Manpower Republic Of Singapore.         Retrieved http://www.mom.gov.sg/documents/statistics-           publications/yearbook12/mrsd_2012yearbook.pdf [Accessed: 19 March 2014].

Reader Response Draft 3

In "Globalization of Culture Through the Media" Kraidy (2002) discusses the controversy between cultural imperialism and globalisation. Once the dominant view of the way that media impacted cultures, “cultural imperialism” has evolve into a perspective of globalisation and hybridisation, where cultural flows are multilateral. He suggests that "cultural hybridity" is not a new phenomenon but one that has existed in the past.

Kraidy (2002) discusses the opposing perspective on globalisation, homogenisation and hybridisation of culture. However, I feel that rather than homogenising local cultures, globalisation actually reinvents and revives local cultures. The exchange of ideas and information, from the interactions between traders and villagers in the past to the present prevalent usage of media, causes culture to evolve and change over time. During interactions, parties pick up relevant ideas and information, adapting them into their respective cultures, modifying and reinventing their local cultures, leading to cultural hybridisation. With globalisation, the interconnectedness of countries accelerates interactions, resulting in more intensive exchange of ideas. Cultures that operate at a global scale are what Featherstone (1995) mentioned as "third cultures", perpetutated by the transnational companies (TNCs) that nation states have no complete control over. This resembles many of the cultural influences in the world we see today, where globalisation has weaken the power of governments to influence TNCs' production processes.

For example, as shown by the recent K-Pop craze, by adopting Western pop culture into its music genre, Korea has not only modified its local culture but also marketed it to the world. With the extensive use of media such as television and internet, people around the world are constantly being exposed to K-pop. The popularity of K-pop and its worldwide appeal sells Korea as a tourist destination. Fans from around the world are eager to learn Korean, and through the language are able to better understand the local culture. This is not a one-way interaction where Korea adopts the Western pop culture but also the promotion of K-pop around the world in countries like USA, Singapore and China.

In this context, it can be said that popular consumption of K-pop has led to its commercialisation. As McEwan and Daya (2012) suggest "culture has become increasingly commodified". One can see in the global market, K-pop music is usually catchy and contemporary, which appeals to the general audience. Instead of portraying the traditional cultures of Korea to the audience, media companies are producing commercialised music for mass consumption. Therefore, a balance has to be struck by the music producers between commercialising and promoting the local culture, in order not to undermine and dilute it into a totally different culture, where local identity is lost.


References

Featherstone, M. (1995). “Undoing culture: Globalization, postmodernism and identity”, in Volume 39 of Theory, Culture & Society, London: SAGE Publications Ltd.

McEwan, C. and Daya, S. (2012) "Geography, culture and global change", in P. Daniels, M. Bradshaw, D. Shaw and J. Sidaway (eds.), An Introduction to Human Geography (Harlow: Pearson), Chapter 13, pp. 272-287.

Essay Draft 2

In his TED talk, Goldin (2009) talks about the unequal development of globalisation. As the world globalises, countries get wealthier and women are getting better education. However, not everyone experiences the same rate of development (Sen, 2002), the rich are getting richer, while the poor are getting poorer in most cases. Despite contributions from women in many countries, they are often not rewarded equally. Because of the patriarchal structure in Singapore, income disparity persists between genders. In order to address the income disparity between genders, laws need to be enacted to empower women.

Former Prime Minster of Singapore, Goh Chok Tong, once openly pointed out that "in a largely patriarchal society, minor areas where women are not accorded the same treatment should be expected so long as the welfare of women and of the family is protected. I would not regard them as "pockets of discrimination" or "blemishes" but as traditional areas of differential treatments" (Chan, 2000). With the government's stand on patriarchy, women often face negligence, if not discrimination in various aspects of life. This gender bias is reinforced by traditional Asian values where women are primary care-givers and homemakers. This had led to past emphasis on the male counterparts in attaining education, obtaining valuable skills set for employment and thus, creating a male dominant society.

Consequently, women face various social issues throughout their lives. Due to their low levels of educational qualifications in the past and their primary roles as mothers and care-givers, women are generally economically dependent on their spouses. As of 2012, life expectancy for women stands at 84.5 years while life expectancy for men is 79.9 years (SingStat, 2013). Hence, many of these women will face economic difficulties as they tend to outlive their spouses. Furthermore, the lower educational qualifications of women result in lowly skilled labour which in turn receive lower salaries. Some women may not be able to find jobs due to their lack of qualifications thus, being unemployed despite their willingness to work.

Despite the rise in percentage of economically active women aged 15 and above from 29.5% in 1970 to 50.3% in 1990 (Chan, 2000), women do not earn equal paycheck compared to their male counterparts. Chan (2000) stated that in 1991 women with primary/secondary education and women with tertiary education were earning on average 69 cents to a dollar earned by men in the same group. This is partly attributed to the fact that employers of women have to entitle both married and single women 8 weeks of paid maternity leave (Ministry of Manpower, 2014). The loss of productivity due to childbirth would incur great costs for the employers, especially over the course of the 8 weeks paid maternity leave. Furthermore, women employees do not necessarily enjoy equal medical benefits because it would be costly to provide such medical coverage in view of more women complications. Hence, employers do not have the incentives to pay women employees higher salaries.

In order to narrow the income gap between genders, certain measures can be put in place to improve women's social status. One such measure is to enact laws on equal pay for women. Although Singapore had ratified the International Labour Organisation Convention Number 100 on equal pay for men and women, women in the law profession for example have to increase their working hours in order to receive equal salaries as their male counterparts (Das, 2005). Despite its commitment in providing equal pay for equal wages, the lack concrete laws on equal pay maintains the income gap.

Secondly, despite the increase in women's educational qualifications and income in recent years, men's income grew faster (Chan, 2000). Therefore, rather than just improving women's education, opportunities for workplace promotion should be on par with the male counterparts. By allowing women to take on more important roles, they are able to increase their income, narrowing the gap and improve their social standing. Studies show that in countries where males help out with household chores, women generally enjoy higher social standing. However, in a traditionally male-dominant Asian society like Singapore, the change in attitude of men to help out in household chores seems to be implausible and this cannot be done through legislation.

Lastly, greater political attention can be given to civil societies that campaign for women rights such as AWARE and Singapore Council of Women's Organisation. By allowing such voices to be heard in politics, women's social status in Singapore can better be improved, narrowing the income gap as women receive equal treatment in the workplace. However, Singapore government employs a top-down approach in its policy making, how much these civil societies can affect policies is determined by the government. Hence, the existence of such societies are generally seen as "gestural" and apolitical. 

Hence, to narrow the gender income gap, women have to have an increase in their social standing in Singapore. However, this may be hard to come by given the strong stance on patriarchy in Singapore.


References

Chan, J. S. (2000). The status of women in a patriarchal state. In: Edwards, L. P. & Roces, M. eds. (2000). Women in asia. St. Leonards, N.S.W.: Allen & Unwin. pp. 39-58.

Das, M. (2005). Gender In Justice - Women In The Law In Singapore. Retrieved from: http://www.aware.org.sg/wp-content/uploads/Gender_In_Justice.pdf [Accessed: 3 March 2014].

Ministry of Manpower. (2014). Maternity leave. [online] Retrieved from: http://www.mom.gov.sg/employment-practices/leave-and-holidays/Pages/maternity-leave.aspx [Accessed: 3 March 2014].

Sen, A. (2002). How To Judge Globalism. The American Prospect, 13(1), 1-14. Retrieved from: http://www2.econ.uu.nl/users/marrewijk/pdf/ihs/geo/sen%202000%20judge%20glob.pdf [Accessed: 18 February 2014].

Statistic Singapore. (2013). Statistics Singapore - life expectancy at birth. [online] Retrieved from: http://www.singstat.gov.sg/statistics/visualising_data/chart/Life_Expectancy_At_Birth.html [Accessed: 3 March 2014].

Essay Draft 1

In his TED talk, Goldin (2009) talks about the unequal development of globalisation. As the world globalises, countries get wealthier and women are getting better education. However, not everyone experiences the same rate of development (Sen, 2002), the rich are getting richer, while the poor are getting poorer in most cases. Despite contributions from women in many countries, they are often not rewarded equally. Because of the patriarchal structure in Singapore, income disparity persists between genders. In order to address the income disparity between genders, laws need to be enacted to empower women.

Former Prime Minster of Singapore, Goh Chok Tong, once openly pointed out that "in a largely patriarchal society, minor areas where women are not accorded the same treatment should be expected so long as the welfare of women and of the family is protected. I would not regard them as "pockets of discrimination" or "blemishes" but as traditional areas of differential treatments" (Chan, 2000). With the government's stand on patriarchy, women often face negligence, if not discrimination in various aspects of life. This gender bias is reinforced by traditional Asian values where women are primary care-givers and homemakers. This had led to past emphasis on the male counterparts in attaining education, obtaining valuable skills set for employment and thus, creating a male dominant society.

Consequently, women face various social issues throughout their lives. Due to their low levels of educational qualifications in the past and their primary roles as mothers and care-givers, women are generally economically dependent on their spouses. As of 2012, life expectancy for women stands at 84.5 years while life expectancy for men is 79.9 years (SingStat, 2013). Hence, many of these women will face economic difficulties as they tend to outlive their spouses. Furthermore, the lower educational qualifications of women result in lowly skilled labour which in turn receive lower salaries. Some women may not be able to find jobs due to their lack of qualifications thus, being unemployed despite their willingness to work.

Despite the rise in percentage of economically active women aged 15 and above from 29.5% in 1970 to 50.3% in 1990 (Chan, 2000), women do not earn equal paycheck compared to their male counterparts. Chan (2000) stated that in 1991 women with primary/secondary education and women with tertiary education were earning on average 69 cents to a dollar earned by men in the same group. This is partly attributed to the fact that employers of women have to entitle both married and single women 8 weeks of paid maternity leave (Ministry of Manpower, 2014). The loss of productivity due to childbirth would incur great costs for the employers, especially over the course of the 8 weeks paid maternity leave. Furthermore, women employees do not necessarily enjoy equal medical benefits because it would be costly to provide such medical coverage in view of more women complications. Hence, employers do not have the incentives to pay women employees higher salaries.

In order to narrow the income gap between genders, certain measures can be put in place to improve women's social status. One such measure is to enact laws on equal pay for women. Although Singapore had ratified the International Labour Organisation Convention Number 100 on equal pay for men and women, women in the law profession for example have to increase their working hours in order to receive equal salaries as their male counterparts (Das, 2005). Despite its commitment in providing equal pay for equal wages, the lack concrete laws on equal pay maintains the income gap.

Secondly, despite the increase in women's educational qualifications and income in recent years, men's income grew faster (Chan, 2000). Therefore, rather than just improving women's education, opportunities for workplace promotion should be better available for them. By allowing women to take on more important roles, they are able to increase their income, narrowing the gap and improve their social standing. Studies showed that in countries where males help out with household chores, women generally enjoy higher social standing. However, in a traditional male-dominant Asian society like Singapore, the change in attitude of men to help out in household chores seems to be implausible and this cannot be done through legislation.

Lastly, greater political attention can be given to civil societies that campaign for women rights such as AWARE and Singapore Council of Women's Organisation. By allowing such voices to be heard in politics, women's social status in Singapore can better be improved, narrowing the income gap as women receive equal treatment in the workplace. However, Singapore government employs a top-down approach in its policy making, how much these civil societies can affect policies is determined by the government. Hence, the existence of such societies are generally seen as "gestural" and apolitical. 

Hence, to narrow the gender income gap, women have to have an increase in their social standing in Singapore. However, this may be hard to come by given the strong stance on patriarchy in Singapore.


References

Chan, J. S. (2000). The status of women in a patriarchal state. In: Edwards, L. P. & Roces, M. eds. (2000). Women in asia. St. Leonards, N.S.W.: Allen & Unwin. pp. 39-58.

Das, M. (2005). Gender In Justice - Women In The Law In Singapore. Retrieved from: http://www.aware.org.sg/wp-content/uploads/Gender_In_Justice.pdf [Accessed: 3 March 2014].

Ministry of Manpower. (2014). Maternity leave. [online] Retrieved from: http://www.mom.gov.sg/employment-practices/leave-and-holidays/Pages/maternity-leave.aspx [Accessed: 3 March 2014].

Sen, A. (2002). How To Judge Globalism. The American Prospect, 13(1), 1-14. Retrieved from: http://www2.econ.uu.nl/users/marrewijk/pdf/ihs/geo/sen%202000%20judge%20glob.pdf [Accessed: 18 February 2014].

Statistic Singapore. (2013). Statistics Singapore - life expectancy at birth. [online] Retrieved from: http://www.singstat.gov.sg/statistics/visualising_data/chart/Life_Expectancy_At_Birth.html [Accessed: 3 March 2014].

Essay Outline

Research question
Does gender inequality lead to income disparity in Singapore?

Thesis statement
Because of the patriarchal structure in Singapore, income disparity persists between genders.


Introduction
In his TED talk, Goldin (2009) talks about the unequal development of globalisation. As the world globalises, countries are getting wealthier, mobile phones now are more advanced than the computer systems in the past and women are getting better education. However, as not everyone experiences the same rate of development (Sen, 2002), the rich are getting richer, while the poor are getting poorer in most cases. Despite equal or even greater contributions from women in many countries, they are often not rewarded equally. Because of the patriarchal structure in Singapore, income disparity persists between genders. In order to address the income disparity between genders, laws need to be enacted to empower women.

Body
Brief Outline:
- why is there a gender bias in developing country? 
   - traditional values/culture. eg. Singapore - women as primary care-givers
   - education level of women eg. men are preferred over women to pursue education in the past leading to a male dominant society

- why this gender bias persist
   - patriarchal state 

- how does this biasness affect their social status, in turn affecting their income
   - submissive to men, therefore inferior? eg. Other patriarchal states- Malaysia - Obedient Wives Club, women are to sexually satisfy their husband
   - main role as mothers, not as breadwinner - economically dependent
   - family policies are targeted and implemented through men. eg. Singapore - family policies are targeted at men - head of household
   - lack of education for women 
      - lowly skilled, lowly paid
      - unable to find jobs thus not contributing to economy
   - even for those who are employed, lack of wage law results in unequal pay
      - reasons: women are troublesome due to pregnancy leading to loss of productivity
         - maternity leave (paid/unpaid)
      - more women problems, thus need to provide higher medical benefits

Solutions - how to alleviate gender bias, thus leading to closing income gap
  
  - implement law on equal pay for women, eg Singapore's Women's Charter did fight for equal wage for women but was not passed - equal pay day 2013
          - Singapore has regulations on employers regarding maternity leave, eg. 8 weeks of paid maternity leave, retaining employer status after returning from pregnancy
          - however it reinforces the notion that women are primary care-givers and their roles as mothers
    - compulsory education for women
          - equipped necessary skills for employment
              - better opportunities
              - higher contributions
    - educate the population in terms of gender equality, change perspective of women
          - not as subservient to men but as equal

- give more political attention to civil societies not just as "gestural" politics eg. AWARE, SCWO

Evaluation of solutions
- traditional asian values are hard to change even when laws are implemented to empower women
- Singapore's political scene takes a top-down approach. Decision making is in one single body, civil societies may voice their opinions but its implementation (or not) is ultimately set by the state.



http://youngbpwinternational.wordpress.com/2013/06/18/bpw-singapores-inaugural-equal-pay-day-event/


http://www.scwo.org.sg/index.php/events/454-women-are-not-asking-for-the-bar-to-be-lowered-they-just-want-a-level-playing-field


References:

Sen, A. (2002). How To Judge Globalism. The American Prospect, 13(1), 1-14. Last retrieved from: http://www2.econ.uu.nl/users/marrewijk/pdf/ihs/geo/sen%202000%20judge%20glob.pdf on 18 February, 2014.