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Test your knowledge on the state of gender equality in the world today

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Test your knowledge on the state of gender equality in the world today

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https://data.em2030.org/quiz/

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Gender inequality: test your knowledge and help us close the gap

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Gender inequality: test your knowledge and help us close the gap

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https://www.oxfam.org/en/gender-inequality-test-your-knowledge-and-help-us-close-gap

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Women's Action documents the struggles and successes faced by the women's movement in Singapore. Explore the multi-faceted journey women have taken and its tremendous impact in the 50 years since the nation's independence.

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Women's Action documents the struggles and successes faced by the women's movement in Singapore. Explore the multi-faceted journey women have taken and its tremendous impact in the 50 years since the nation's independence.

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https://www.womensaction.sg/article/education

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https://www.womensaction.sg/article/reproductive

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A PAP election rally in 1959

The fight for reproductive rights has been at the core of the women's movement in Singapore since its inception. Feminists have critiqued state and social control over women's reproductive capacities. Some state actions, like the endorsement of family planning and the legalisation of abortion, have converged with the feminist goal of empowering women to make their own choices, but have been used to very different ends.

Family planning, choice and health

In the mid-1930s, debates on dispensing family planning advice to the general public were sparked by a press letter discussing birth control, and by a visit by American family planning advocate Margaret Sanger. 1 The colonial government, however, believed the populace was not ready, and there was opposition from within the Legislative Council and Municipal Commission. 2

In 1949, following lectures on birth control organised by the YWCA International Club, some 60 women voted to establish local family planning services. 3 After intense debate in the Municipal Council Chamber, a motion was passed to provide family planning advice once a week in three municipal infant welfare clinics. 4

Nevertheless, women still faced resistance from their husbands, and often sought family planning advice in secret. Ms Constance Goh, the first president of FPA, encouraged women to make their husbands think birth control was their idea - a tactic which could afford women more control over their bodies, but reinforced the view that men were entitled to make decisions about women's bodies. 8

The shift to population control

In 1966, at the FPA's behest, the government took over family planning services, establishing the Family Planning and Population Board (FPPB). 9 The government was convinced that reducing fertility was necessary for Singapore's economic survival.

Women's empowerment through family planning has often been limited by patriarchal norms, but the absorption of these services into the state apparatus brought a competing threat to women's autonomy: national interests. 10 While the 1965 White Paper on Family Planning stated that its aim was to "liberate our women from the burden of bearing and raising an unnecessarily large number of children", it added that this was to "increase human happiness for all" through 'safeguarding' Singapore's economic survival. 11

Nevertheless, till 1969, the government did not try to force people to use birth control. Instead, it used strategies like media campaigns, forums and debates to highlight Singapore's perceived population problem and the necessity for family planning. 12

Mdm Chow Sook Chin remembers the time. 13 She worked as a nurse midwife in the late 1960s, attending to home births as well as in Kandang Kerbau Hospital. She said in an interview for this feature that she preferred home births as they were "more personal", and she could handle each case from antenatal care all the way to postnatal care.

At this time, a system of government District Midwives was in place. Women were trained in midwifery but not nursing, and worked in centres across the island. Traditional birthing assistants, such as bidans and jiesheng fu 14 also attended to births, although the government actively encouraged women to seek the services of medically trained midwives instead. 15

Government midwives dispensed family planning advice and contraceptives during home visits, 16 and nurses talked to women about the possibility of family planning during their antenatal and postnatal check-ups. According to Mdm Chow, maternal health was quite poor at the time, since women did not have much money with which to take care of themselves, or to buy herbs or vitamins.

Mdm Chow noted that women tended to be more accepting of family planning than their husbands or in-laws were. 17 Unfortunately, though family planning was an issue that intimately affected their bodies, women had less say as to whether to take it up.

Of abortion, sterilisation and stopping at two

With population growth still high as the 1970s began, the state embarked on a more aggressive campaign to limit couples to two children each. There was immense pressure to conform to a new ideal of the nuclear family, including new measures to encourage parents - in practice, mothers - to get sterilised after their second child. However, these policies disproportionately targeted lower-income and less educated people, as well as disabled people.

Increased government intervention in reproduction began with a modification of delivery fees in 1969, from a flat rate for all births to progressively higher fees for subsequent births. 18 Then came the Abortion Act and the Voluntary Sterilisation Act, both enacted in 1970. 19

Abortion was initially criminalised under the British laws Singapore had inherited, except where "abortion was caused in good faith to safeguard the life of the woman concerned". 20 When reviewing the law, the state was concerned about cases of contraceptive failure, as well as population control. Policymakers also wanted to tackle dangerous "backstreet" abortions. Announcing the government's intent to legalise abortion in August 1967, then Health Minister Mr Yong Nyuk Lin stated:

With the proposed legalising of abortion, every child born in Singapore would henceforth be a wanted child and our women folk will thus be liberated from the clutches of nefarious people who are unscrupulous enough to exploit and profit in the anomalous situation which regards abortion as being illegal abortion.

However, the Abortion Act, as first enacted in 1970, gave women only limited access to abortions. Those seeking abortions needed approval from the Termination of Pregnancy Authorisation Board and, if she was below 18, from her parents or guardian. The Board could grant approval only where there was a serious threat to the life, or mental or physical health of the pregnant woman; where the child might be disabled; where the pregnancy was the result of rape, incest or other unlawful intercourse; and where the socio-economic situation of the woman "justified" terminating the pregnancy. 22

One woman recalled being chided by doctors and nurses, and offered an abortion, when she went for an antenatal check-up while pregnant with her third child.

Although liberalisation of abortion for lower-income women did advance women's reproductive freedom, the Abortion Act also marked the beginnings of eugenicist policies.

Speaking on the Abortion Bill in 1969, Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew worried that the legalisation of abortion and voluntary sterilisation would lower the quality of the population. He noted that better-educated parents were more likely to limit the number of children they had, and argued that the laws needed to be applied "intelligently" in order to correct this "distortion" in procreation patterns. 26

Legal abortion was sometimes used in a way that disrespected women's choices - one woman recalled being chided by doctors and nurses, and offered an abortion, when she went for an antenatal check-up in 1976 while pregnant with her third child. 27

Coming into force at the same time as the Abortion Act, the Voluntary Sterilisation Act led to the establishment of an Eugenics Board to assess applications for voluntary sterilisation. 28 Although this would later cause grief, the law was passed without much comment.

What is sexual sterilisation?

The two forms of sterilisation authorised under the Voluntary Sterilisation Act were tubal ligation and vasectomy. Tubal ligation involves either cutting or clipping the fallopian tubes, which carry eggs from a woman's ovaries to her uterus. It does not stop menstruation. Vasectomy involves cutting or clipping the vas deferens, which carries sperm from a man's testes to his urethra. Hysterectomy (surgical removal of the womb, which stops menstruation) and other methods were not included. Tubal ligation and vasectomy are difficult to reverse.

Related themes Civil Society Family

The state soon introduced measures to increase the take-up rate for its sterilisation programme, deeming sterilisation "the best method of family planning". 29 Priority in Primary One registration - a major concern for many parents - was given to sterilised parents, 30 and delivery fees were waived for Class B and C patients if either parent sterilised themselves following the birth of a child. For Class C patients, ward fees were also waived in such cases. 31 While sterilisation was offered to all, it was often women who got sterilised, though it was then a much more invasive procedure for women than for men. 32

Some women felt pressured to get sterilised despite their religious objections. 33 Husbands sometimes pressured their wives into such procedures due to difficulties with paying hospitalisation and delivery fees. Women were not just subject to state pressures but also class-based financial pressure, and the model of the male breadwinner that gave power to men. 34 Their predicament was made worse by the state's drive to hospitalise childbirth.

Other measures were also introduced to encourage small families. 35 In 1973, the state amended the Employment Act so that women were no longer eligible for paid maternity leave if they already had two or more surviving children, 36 and lower or no income tax relief was granted from the fourth child onwards. A new rule was introduced whereby those staying in public housing could only sub-let rooms if they had no more than three children.

Use of public housing for social engineering purposes

During the colonial era and immediate post-independence period, priority in public housing was given to those deemed to need it most, including families with many children. However, since the 1970s, the state has formulated public housing policies to serve demographic and ideological ends. These include sanctioning those who did not conform to the nuclear family ideal, such as LGBT families or unwed single mothers and their children. On a positive note, it seems the state is beginning to concern itself more with the original social welfare mission of public housing again. 89

Related themes Family

"If I have a third child, and just because the third child is a third child, and then he's not given the same priority as the others."

The denial of priority in Primary One registration to fourth and subsequent children hit the hardest. The specifics changed a number of times during the decade, but generally, priority was only given up to the third child. Fourth and subsequent children would receive priority only if at least one of their parents was sterilised.

Many limited their family size because they did not want their younger children to be disadvantaged. Mdm Chow was one such parent.

"I didn't want to take the chance, because in those days, a third child, they don't guarantee you ... I was asking myself, if I have a third child, and just because the third child is a third child, and then he's not given the same priority as the others. It's very unfair to him," she said. 37

Abortion and sterilisation legislation were also discriminatory against people with disabilities, including disabled women. The risk of severe impairment was one of the grounds for terminating pregnancy in the 1969 Abortion Act, 38 and both the 1969 and 1974 the Voluntary Sterilisation Acts treated people with disabilities in a eugenicist way that disrespected their right to parenthood. 39

Under these Voluntary Sterilisation Acts, for those "afflicted with any hereditary form of illness that is recurrent, mental illness, mental deficiency [sic] or epilepsy" (mental illness was inserted as a separate category in the 1974 Act), a parent, guardian or spouse could decide whether they should be sterilised, and this would be approved as long as the doctor certified that the treatment was "necessary in the interest of the person... and of society generally." Consent of the person to be sterilised was not required.

Eugenicist sentiments were apparent in the parliamentary debates on the two acts. Speaking on the Abortion Bill, Minister of Health Chua Sian Chin stated:

I would just like to invite these groups [those who oppose abortion] to visit the Mental Defective Section of the Woodbridge Hospital to see for themselves the mental defectives or "mongols" whom we have to care for. Perhaps then they may begin to think in more rational terms and start to question the very purpose of the Divine creating such mental defectives, the nature of whose existence in this world is just to vegetate.

The hospitalisation of childbirth meant that the government now had easier access to women's bodies to implement their social engineering programmes.

The 1970s was a period of transition when it came to childbirth. Once the Nurses and Midwives Act of 1975 was passed, traditional birthing assistants could no longer practise legally. 41 Instead, the government advised all women to deliver in hospital, citing the risks involved in childbirth. By the end of the decade, hospital births were practically the only option open to women. 42

The hospitalisation of childbirth did not necessarily improve women's access to reproductive healthcare. Lower-income families found it difficult to afford the more expensive hospital fees, and therefore delayed going to the hospital until the last minute in order to minimise costs. Some ended up delivering their babies on their way to hospital. 43

Many who did deliver in hospital faced medical procedures which were not always necessary, such as routine episiotomies. Labour was sometimes induced in order to fit hospital schedules, and caesarean sections performed when the baby was still not delivered after a set length of time. The process was a top-down one, with many women unable to understand what was going on. 44

"Talent for the future": overt eugenics

In 1975, Singapore's total fertility rate dipped under the replacement fertility level of 2.1 children per woman for the first time. 45 Stop at Two had been effective, but the drop in fertility rate was also due to other factors, such as women's higher educational levels, their increasing participation in the workforce, family nuclearisation and better living conditions. 46

After the 1980 census, the state became concerned that better-educated women were reproducing at lower rates than less-educated women, and that graduate women in particular were remaining single. In his 1983 National Day Rally speech, Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew worried that the following generation might be "depleted of the talented". 47 Mr Lee believed that better-educated parents would produce more intelligent, talented offspring, and that it was important to ensure that graduate women had more children.

Graduate Mothers' Priority Scheme

Under this scheme, the offspring of university-educated women with three or more children would get priority in primary school registration. In the same year, the government announced that $10,000 would be given to low-income, less-educated women below the age of 30 who sterilised themselves after the first or second child.

Related themes Civil Society Family

These policies angered many citizens; one woman who wrote to the press signed off as "Second-class Citizen". 54 Even graduates felt it was unfair, as evidenced in the landmark forum in 1984, "Women's Choices, Women's Lives", leading to the formation of the Association of Women for Action and Research (AWARE), whose first position paper was on the issue of population policies. 55

The founding of AWARE

Frustration with the Graduate Mothers' Priority Scheme - along with a number of sexist comments made during the Great Marriage Debate - was a major contributing factor to the formation of the Association of Women for Action and Research (AWARE), which today is Singapore's largest gender equality organisation.

Related themes Civil Society

Besides concerns of class-based discrimination, there was also some worry that the government was trying to limit the fertility of Indian and Malay women so as to maintain the ethnic ratio - women from these ethnic groups tended to have less education and more children, and were therefore disproportionately affected by the policies. This belief was bolstered in 1985 when Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew declared belief that Singapore owed its success to the "practicality" of its Chinese ethnic majority. 56

Have three or more (if you can afford it)

In 1987, the state announced a new population policy - Have Three or More (If You Can Afford It). By focusing on "affordability" rather than education, it moved away from overtly eugenicist rhetoric, but specific policies and guidelines continued to discriminate against less-educated people. Reproductive policies were still formulated with social engineering in mind.

In 1987, the government implemented mandatory pre- and post-abortion counselling to discourage abortion. However, the pre-abortion counselling requirement only applied to women with some secondary education, and aimed to discourage these women from aborting rather than providing them with unbiased information. 63

Following its announcement in 1993, the Small Family Incentive Scheme from the eugenics era was modified and reintroduced as the Small Family Improvement Scheme in 1994. The sterilisation requirement was removed; instead, parents had to agree not to have more than two children. 64 In 2004, benefits were enhanced and the scheme was renamed the Home Ownership Plus Education (HOPE) Scheme, and continues to advocate that less-educated, low-income parents keep their families small. 65

The state also had other forms of social engineering in mind. Wanting to uphold the image of the 'traditional' nuclear family as the social norm, it insisted on childbearing only within the context of heteronormative marriage. 66 This impinged on the reproductive rights of anyone who did not fit this norm. Up till today, unwed single mothers are not entitled to the Baby Bonus scheme or government -paid maternity leave or benefits. 67

Recent developments

Recent developments hint at a shift away from overt eugenicist policies and towards greater respect for autonomy and human rights.

Another emergent trend is heated and robust debate on matters of sexual and reproductive autonomy not between citizens and state, but between various factions in society, signalling a new era of public engagement.

Despite these shifts, the state's pro-natalist policies continue to include strong class-based components. Many of its incentives for parenthood - such as co-savings schemes or income tax relief 74 - inherently favour parents with higher incomes.

The Baby Bonus Child Development Account

There are two components to the Baby Bonus Scheme. The first is the cash gift mentioned earlier. The second is the Child Development Account, a co-savings account where the government will match all money deposited in the account dollar-for-dollar, up to a ceiling determined by the child's birth order. Following the announcement of the 2016 Budget, parents will also have an initial $3,000 deposited into their newborns' accounts. The money can then be used for various child-related expenses. 80

Related themes Family

Another emergent trend is heated and robust debate on matters of sexual and reproductive autonomy not between citizens and state, but between various factions in society, signalling a new era of public engagement. The changes to mandatory pre-abortion counselling in 2015, for instance, were preceded and surrounded by lengthy debates in the press on the appropriate role of regulation in governing abortion access.

Sexuality education has also sparked controversy. In 2006, AWARE-alarmed by the steep climb in sexually transmitted infections amongst teenage girls and data that over a hundred girls below age 20 had undergone abortions in 2006 alone 75 -developed a comprehensive sexuality (CSE) programme for teenagers. The course aimed to empower youth to make informed choices. 76

Returning choice and empowerment to pregnant mothers

People have also started to challenge medical authority over childbirth, 80 as evidenced in the small but growing interest in natural childbirth. This school of thought sees childbirth as a natural process rather than a medical issue, and holds that control over the birthing process should be returned to pregnant women. Natural births involve significantly less medical intervention, including lower rates of episiotomies and caesarean sections. With the help of pain management techniques, the need for pain medication, including epidural anaesthesia, is also reduced. 81

Personal experience prompting interest in the practice of a doula

Ginny Phang's own experience of giving birth to her son has informed her work as a doula. She was 23 years old and unmarried when she fell pregnant, and knew little about preparing for childbirth. There was little support when she went into labour, and she lacked the skills to understand and deal with what was going on. She was given an episiotomy - a surgical incision made between the vaginal opening and the anus - without fully understanding what the nurse was doing and why the procedure was necessary.

"Here I am feeling so disempowered when I was giving birth myself and I wanted people not to have the same experience that I did as a new mother, as a young mother," she said at TEDx Singapore.

Meanwhile, the medical profession has started giving women more reproductive health choices.

As the state grapples with evolving demographics and family structures, and faultlines over societal values emerge in a society whose pluralism and diversity grows daily more apparent, voices for women's and girl's autonomy will no doubt become ever more vital to ensure the protection of reproductive rights.

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A PAP election rally in 1959 The fight for reproductive rights has been at the core of the women's movement in Singapore since its inception. Feminists have critiqued state and social control over women's reproductive capacities.

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Take this student form to help us collect data!

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Singapore ranked worst place for women to work among top ‘gender-equal’ nations, with about 20% less pay and savings than men

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Singapore ranked worst place for women to work among top ‘gender-equal’ nations, with about 20% less pay and savings than men

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Business Insider

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5 Singapore firms make it to global gender equality index

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5 Singapore firms make it to global gender equality index

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The Strait Times

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11th June - Flipgrid

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guides on teaching the young ones

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Putting early childhood education to gender equality's use

Research shows that the concept of gender in children forms between the ages of three and seven. During this early phase, children form an understanding of gender norms, identities and stereotypes. By this age they also acquire strong gender biases, such as which jobs men and women should fulfill.

Also, by this time girls have often already been negatively affected by gendered interactions and boys' masculine conduct in schools. Altogether, this has a huge impact on children's future lives.

Rigid understandings of gender norms and identities and stereotypes seriously limit young children's freedom to develop to their full potential according to their unique and valuable talents and interests, irrespective of their sex.

Seeing the growing importance of early childhood education in many countries, VVOB and FAWE see great potential in harvesting the impact of early childhood education on children for the benefit of gender equality; not just by ensuring that girls enroll in preschool education to jumpstart their education, but also by focusing on how preschools and early learning centers can challenge limiting gender stereotypes, norms and identities that will have a lasting effect on children's lives.

How learning environments perpetuate norms and stereotypes

Similar to other regions in the world, enrollment in early childhood education in Africa is on the rise. This aggravates some persisting challenges, such as the large number of unqualified preschool teachers or teachers that have not been trained to teach at the preschool level; curricula and pedagogies that are not adaptable to the various developmental stages of children; and a lack of play-based pedagogies. In addition, a large majority of teaching staff is female.

Similar to what research has found to be true in countries in the global North, teachers are known to be unconscious validators of harmful gender norms and stereotypes. Girls, for example, are more often praised by teachers for their clothing, appearance and caring behaviors. Boys, on the contrary, are complimented for their physical strength, given more complex tasks in class, given more attention and experience more space to express themselves than girls.

Research from Kenya reveals that preschool teachers influence children to select and use gender-appropriate play materials, rather than stimulating cross-gender or gender neutral play-materials.

Gender norms and stereotypes are not limited to the classroom. They invade young children's lives in many ways: through media, advertisements, toys and learning materials. They are passed on to them by their parents, their peers or from what they see in their communities and through social norms.

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Teaching gender equality to the youngest learners

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Research shows that the concept of gender in children forms between the ages of three and seven. During this early phase, children form an understanding of gender norms, identities and stereotypes. By this age they also acquire strong gender biases, such as which jobs men and women should fulfill.

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Girls and boys see gender inequality in their homes and communities every day - in textbooks, in the media and among the adults who care for them.

Parents may assume unequal responsibility for household work, with mothers bearing the brunt of caregiving and chores. The majority of low-skilled and underpaid community health workers who attend to children are also women, with limited opportunity for professional growth.

And in schools, many girls receive less support than boys to pursue the studies they choose. This happens for a variety of reasons: The safety, hygiene and sanitation needs of girls may be neglected, barring them from regularly attending class. Discriminatory teaching practices and education materials also produce gender gaps in learning and skills development. As a result, nearly 1 in 4 girls between the ages of 15 and 19 are neither employed nor in education or training - compared to 1 in 10 boys.

Worldwide, nearly 1 in 4 girls between the ages of 15 and 19 are neither employed nor in education or training - compared to 1 in 10 boys.

Yet, in early childhood, gender disparities start out small. Girls have higher survival rates at birth, are more likely to be developmentally on track, and are just as likely to participate in preschool. Among those who reach secondary school, girls tend to outperform boys in reading across every country where data are available.

But the onset of adolescence can bring significant barriers to girls' well-being. Gender norms and discrimination heighten their risk of unwanted pregnancy, HIV and AIDS, and malnutrition. Especially in emergency settings and in places where menstruation remains taboo, girls are cut off from the information and supplies they need to stay healthy and safe.

In its most insidious form, gender inequality turns violent. Some 1 in 20 girls between the ages of 15 and 19 - around 13 million - have experienced forced sex. In times of both peace and conflict, adolescent girls face the highest risk of gender-based violence. Hundreds of millions of girls worldwide are still subjected to child marriage and female genital mutilation - even though both have been internationally recognized as human rights violations. And violence can occur at birth, like in places where female infanticide is known to persist.

Some 1 in 20 girls between the ages of 15 and 19 - around 13 million globally - have experienced forced sex in their lifetimes.

Harmful gender norms are perpetuated at the highest levels. In some countries, they become entrenched in laws and policies that fail to uphold - or that even violate - girls' rights, like laws that restrict women from inheriting property. Boys also suffer from gender norms: Social conceptions of masculinity can fuel child labour, gang violence, disengagement from school, and recruitment into armed groups.

Despite major hurdles that still deny them equal rights, girls refuse to limit their ambitions. Since the signing of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action in 1995 - the most comprehensive policy agenda for gender equality - the world has seen uneven progress.

More and more girls are attending and completing school, and fewer are getting married or becoming mothers while still children themselves. But discrimination and limiting stereotypes remain rife. Technological change and humanitarian emergencies are also confronting girls with new challenges, while old ones - violence, institutionalized biases, poor learning and life opportunities - persist.

That's why girls from all walks of life are boldly raising their voices against inequality. Girl-led movements are stopping child marriage and female genital mutilation, demanding action on climate change, and trail-blazing in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) - asserting their power as global change-makers.

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Equal rights and opportunities for girls and boys help all children fulfil their potential.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLr2GNRnmXM

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Click Here

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The Gender Bias Learning Project is excited to offer you three fun and educational
games/activities that you can incorporate into your gender bias training:

Each of these simple and effective activities is easy to understand and facilitate.
All three of these games offer the greatest impact if they are used to reinforce
a basic understanding of the categories and subcategories of gender bias. Please
use the following handout to teach the players the meanings of each category and
subcategory.

To play each of these games, simply read the instructions, print the training materials
(some printouts require cutting, a paper slicer is recommended), and you will be
ready for an informative and engaging training session!

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The Gender Bias Learning Project is excited to offer you three fun and educational games/activities that you can incorporate into your gender bias training: Each of these simple and effective activities is easy to understand and facilitate. All three of these games offer the greatest impact if they are used to reinforce a basic understanding of the categories and subcategories of gender bias.