Singapore Government Press Release

Media Relations Division, Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts,

MITA Building, 140 Hill Street, 2nd Storey, Singapore 179369

Tel: 6837-9666

Professor Yaacob Ibrahim

Acting Minister for Community Development and Sports

Dr Lily Neo

Member of Parliament for Jalan Besar GRC

and Adviser to Women Integration Network Council

Colleagues

Ladies and Gentlemen

I am happy to be here with all of you this evening to celebrate the contribution of women to our society. I am encouraged to see a good turnout tonight, and would like to commend the WIN Council for organising this event.

One of the hallmarks of a modern, progressive society is the status of its women – how equally they are treated, how well they are respected, how educated they are, how much opportunity they have to be economically active, and how much say they have in family, community, and national affairs. This is not coincidental. Women represent half (at least) of the intellectual, emotional and creative resources of any society, so a society which neglects or mistreats its womenfolk is competing in the race of nations with one leg hobbled.

In Singapore, we have come a long way in making equality of the sexes an everyday reality. As a small country where people are our only resource, we need the full contribution of every Singaporean, man or woman, in order to be dynamic, prosperous and cohesive. Our whole system is based on meritocracy, and we believe that everyone, regardless of gender, should enjoy full and equal opportunities.

That is why we provide equal access for all in education, and equal treatment for men and women in the workforce. It is unthinkable for us to keep girls at home and not let them go to school, or confine women to doing only household chores. Women, like men, must have the chance to realise their potential to the fullest, and to make their contribution to society.

In very few areas, where there have been strong reasons, we have treated males and females differently. Until recently, one such area was the quota on female medical students at the National University of Singapore. Since we removed this quota last year, I do not have to defend its rights and wrongs tonight. Another area is National Service in the SAF, for men but not women, but this is unlikely to change for quite a long time.

Singapore women have attained impressive achievements in education. The literacy rate of Singapore females aged 15 years and older is 90%, which is comparable to males (97%). In schools, girls do as well as boys, and often better. In this year’s ‘O’ level results, released a few days ago, three out of six students who scored ten A1s were girls.

At the tertiary level, women make up about 50% of students in polytechnics and Universities. But between faculties there are some significant differences in gender distribution. For example, only about one in three students enrolled into the engineering and computer science faculties are females. This is despite considerable efforts by the Government to encourage more girls to study engineering. This preponderance of men in engineering is a pattern seen in many countries, so it is probably at least partly due to inherent differences between the interests and inclinations of men and women. But lest I be misunderstood, let me hasten to add that the overall figures do not mean that women cannot do well in engineering. In 2000, the top engineering student in NTU was a woman, for the first time in many years.

Women are also making good progress at the workplace. Over the last ten years, women consistently accounted for about 40% of our workforce. Those who took up Professional, Administrative, Technical and Managerial positions rose significantly, from 20% to 36%. Now, about 40% of Professionals, Administrative, Technical and Managerial positions in Singapore are filled by women. It is not 50% yet, but the figure is high by international standards, even compared to developed economies. Among the top echelons of successful companies and public institutions, women are playing more prominent roles as CEOs, Judges, Ambassadors, and Permanent Secretaries.

One area where we have made progress, but still need to improve further on, is women’s participation in politics. In the last Parliament, we had only four elected and four nominated female Members of Parliament (MPs). But we made a major effort to identify more promising women candidates, so after the last elections we now have ten elected and five nominated MPs who are women, out of a total of 94 MPs.

The women MPs have made a significant contribution to debate in Parliament. They have added a different dimension to the deliberations, and presented their views and perspectives articulately, freshly and persuasively. We will work even harder to bring more women into Parliament the next time. The task should get easier as more women advance in their careers and distinguish themselves. But I think that for quite a long time to come it will continue to be harder to recruit women than men into politics. It is not so easy for a married woman to cope with the demands of being an MP, plus her professional career, plus her responsibilities as a wife and mother.

All else being equal, the task is still probably harder for the women than for the men. If they are too soft-spoken they may not be able to lead and mobilise their grassroots leaders. Yet if they are too assertive, their constituents may not accept their leadership, because this does not gel with the traditional image of women in the minds of many Singaporeans. Rightly or wrongly, this is still the attitude of significant segments of our population, women as well as men. It reflects well on our women MPs that they have done well despite these additional challenges.

In no country in the world do women make up 50% of the Parliament. Even in Scandinavia, the proportion is only between 36% and 45%. Some people have suggested taking affirmative action, and imposing a quota to ensure proportionate representation of women in parliament. I believe this would be the wrong approach. This also happens to be the view of President Megawati of Indonesia. Recently, the Indonesian Parliament passed a new law that requires 30% of parliamentary candidates to be women. President Megawati commented:

"I do not agree, because such a quota can give rise to the notion that women can only exist (in politics) because of charity."

The President added that women should be elected to parliament on their merit. This is the system that we too should uphold.

The changes in the status of women have inevitably affected family relationships and the nature of the marriage contract. An educated woman will not accept a subservient role in the household, and obey unquestioningly what her husband says. There needs to be a more balanced relationship between husband and wife, whereby both earn incomes, share household duties, and make joint decisions. Recognising this trend, the civil service has updated its personnel rules. The Service has introduced paternity leave, and child sick leave, for married male officers.

But such progressive division of labour within the family has not totally replaced the long-established practice of an Asian society, where the husband is the head of the household and is responsible for earning a living and supporting the family, while the wife takes care of the household arrangements and is the primary caregiver for the children. Every MP has come across many cases of women seeking help because their husbands have neglected to provide for them and their children. Very seldom do MPs see cases of men complaining about wives who are not supporting them.

Another example of how traditional norms still prevail is the way many Singaporean men still prefer to ‘marry down’, and find partners less educated or accomplished than them. The persuasive powers of the Singapore Government and the matchmaking efforts of the SDU have made a difference, but despite that one-third of graduate women in Singapore aged 35-39 remain unmarried. It will take time for expectations towards marriage to shift, and for cultural norms to adjust to the new reality.

While updating the institution of the family, we must take care to strengthen, and not weaken it. We must keep the family as the basic unit of society. Education and financial independence have given women choices, and made them less willing to put up with an unhappy marriage. But we must be careful not to change our norms to make marriage and family mere lifestyle preferences, or to forget that one important responsibility of couples is to produce and nurture the next generation. Already our fertility rate in Singapore is at a historic low of 1.42 per couple, when we need a rate of 2.1 just to replace the current generation. This is a problem for the long-term future of our society, and not just for the year of the goat.

Another area we should pay attention to is the domestic maids, all female, and nearly all non-Singaporean, who toil away quietly to make our lives more convenient and comfortable. They are heavily dependent on their employers not only for employment, but also for shelter and protection. In turn, employers need their services. So domestic maids have become a significant feature in our family arrangements, with 150,000 of them in Singapore.

By and large, Singaporean employers treat their maids well. It is vital that employers respect their domestic maids and look after them properly, as invaluable helpers in our households, and not as slaves or chattel, to be taken for granted or worse abused. This is not just a matter of women’s rights or equal treatment for women, but what basic human decency demands if we are to count ourselves an enlightened and humane society.

Thus while women have made important progress in Singapore, there still remains a major role for women’s organisations, and much work for them to do. I am happy that the WECs have become more active in organising programmes, and have managed to reach out to another 22,000 new members over the past two years. I hope with the formation of the WIN Council, the WEC will play an even larger role in organising activities for women. Have a Happy International Women’s Day.

___________________