Currently, the Singapore’s Constitution forbids discrimination only on grounds of religion, race, descent or place of birth. To align itself with Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5 on achieving gender equality, Singapore should 1. End all forms of discrimination against women and girls everywhere. 2. Eliminate all forms of violence against all women and girls in the public and private spheres, including trafficking and sexual and other types of exploitation. 3. Eliminate all harmful practices such as child, early and forced marriages. 4. Recognise and value unpaid care and domestic work. 5. Ensure women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decision-making in political, economic and public life. 6. Ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights.
Following the United Nations (UN) CEDAW committee’s call to Singapore, Think Centre reiterates the need for the republic to legislate a definition and prohibition of all forms of discrimination against women, and people with different sexual orientation and gender identity.
Currently, the Singapore’s Constitution forbids discrimination only on grounds of religion, race, descent or place of birth. To align itself with Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5 on achieving gender equality, Singapore should
1. End all forms of discrimination against women and girls everywhere.
2. Eliminate all forms of violence against all women and girls in the public and private spheres, including trafficking and sexual and other types of exploitation.
3. Eliminate all harmful practices such as child, early and forced marriages.
4. Recognise and value unpaid care and domestic work.
5. Ensure women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decision-making in political, economic and public life.
6. Ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights.
We urge the government to eliminate the head of household concept in all policy and decision-making to ensure equal sharing of family responsibilities, while giving domestic workers the same labour protections as other workers, abolishing marital immunity for rape, and tackling gender stereotypes and rape.
There is currently no mandatory sex education in schools’ curricula that holistically tackles the prevention for sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). For a small secular state known for pushing ahead with social engineering projects, like the two child policy, succumbing to socially conservative and religious pressures not to equip young girls and boys with knowledge on how to protect themselves, is an embarrassing policy failure on the part of the government who is usually clinically efficient in the way it crafts and implements plans for the betterment of citizens.
Apart from the above vulnerability on the public health front, there is a dismal lack of processes and institutional frameworks to ensure that gender mainstreaming is applied when developing laws, policies and programmes here. The UN’s definition of gender mainstreaming involves the process of assessing the implications for women and men of any planned action, in all areas and at all levels.
We urge the government to take concrete steps to develop a blueprint and convene a committee that involves the active participation of civil society, to develop strategies that address the many recommendations made by the UN. Specifically, it should identify the critical metrics and improve data collection to better understand where women are under-represented or disadvantaged. Currently, information available on these issues from the Ministry of Social and Family Development is sorely lacking.
To address the lack of expertise and information in this area, we urge the Government to establish an independent national human rights institution to promote and protect women and LGBTQ rights and gender equality. The lack of proper metrics means much of the violence against women goes unreported due to stigma and lack of understanding of gender-based violence among Singaporeans and the Police.
Regarding the workforce, Think Centre urge the government to grant female foreign domestic workers the same level of protection and benefits as other workers, especially with regards to holidays, maximum working hours and rest days.
Effective complaints procedures, protection and recourse to remedies for victims of sexual harassment and crimes must also be known and made easily accessible.
All foreign wives of Singapore citizens should be granted the rights to work and access to healthcare subsidies here. The criteria for permanent residency should also be made transparent.
To date, there are only 3 women in a Cabinet of 19, more could be done for women aspiring to enter politics, and girls encouraged to choose non-traditional fields of study and career paths, such as engineering, electronics and information technology, to eliminate traditional stereotypes and structural barriers.
Singapore cannot continue to give excuses that undermine the protection of human rights as stated in the Universal Declaration on Human Rights and the UN Charter. The convenient justification that Singapore has unique cultural, social, economic and historical context is untenable today as it has already been plugged so inextricably into the global system for so long.
We hope the New Year will bring a new dawn for Singaporeans and ensure everyone here is protected and secure to pursue true happiness, prosperity and progress.
