Gender Discrimination in Patriarchal Singapore Draft 4

Gender Discrimination in Patriarchal Singapore

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 and social disparities persist between genders. In order to address the socio-economic disparity between genders, laws need to be enacted and perspectives need to be changed 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 that hold women as primary care-givers and homemakers and is emphasised by the government’s policy of granting pregnant employees eight weeks of paid maternity leave. This led to past emphasis on the men in attaining education and obtaining valuable skill sets for employment, thus, creating a male dominant society.

Consequently, women face various social challenges throughout their lives. For example, because of their primary roles as mothers and care-givers, women have been generally considered economically dependent on their spouses. Pro-family policies are also targeted through the men as they are considered to be the head-of-the-household (Chan, 2000). 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 lack of emphasis on education for women in the past will result in them being consigned to lowly skilled labour jobs, which in turn translate to lower salaries. Some women may not even be able to find jobs due to their lack of qualifications, perpetuating their economic hardship.

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 eight weeks of paid maternity leave (Ministry of Manpower, 2014). Therefore, if the employers were to pay their female employees a high salary, when these employees go on maternity leave resulting in a loss of productivity, the company would incur huge costs.

Furthermore, female employees do not necessarily enjoy equal medical benefits because it is costly to provide such medical coverage to women. From my past experience as an insurance agent, I know that 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 view of the losses in productivity during maternity leaves and the high costs of insurance premiums.

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 has 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). The government has encouraged employers to pay equal salaries, but there are no repercussions to the employers for not doing so. Despite its commitment in providing equal pay for equal wages, the lack of concrete laws on equal pay maintains the income gap. This raises the question, why ratify the agreement when you are not going to enforce it.

Secondly, despite the increase in women's educational qualifications and income in recent years, men's income has grown faster (Chan, 2000). This is so because employers usually see women as liabilities because of their family commitments and often choose to promote men to higher positions of employment. Therefore, perceptions on women can be improved through education. The state can encourage civil societies for women rights to give talks on the importance of gender equality. Only when employers not judge women based on their family commitments and allow women to take on more important roles, are women able to increase their salaries, thus narrow the income gap and improve their social standing.

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. If the state pays more attention to such civil societies and allows their voices to be heard in politics, the state can then make adjustments to its policy in providing better gender equality and improving women’s social status. 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 socio-economic gap, women have to be accorded equal treatment in the society. This can be achieved only when the state put in place laws that require employers to reward equal work by women with equal pay, improve egalitarianism in society through the emphasis on female empowerment in education and to give political attention to civil societies campaign certain women rights. As our Minister Mentor once said, it is stupid for a society to only utilise half of its resources. However, this may be hard to come by given the strong stance on patriarchy in Singapore. It would take years or even generations to change the society’s perspective, given the strong patriarchal roots in Singapore.

References

Chan, J. S. (2000). The status of women in a patriarchal state. In L.P. Edwards, L. P. & M. Roces,      (Eds.), 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].