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Month: February 2011

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AWARE’s response to the 2011 Budget

AWARE welcomes commitment to building inclusive society
Media Release: SINGAPORE BUDGET 2011

18 February 2011 – AWARE welcomes the strong focus in the 2011 Budget on strengthening our society. We are heartened by the Minister’s assurance that steps will be taken to ensure an inclusive society.

We trust that this inclusiveness will extend to marginalised groups such as unwed mothers, many of whom are caught in the poverty trap and struggle to earn a living while also taking care of their child or children. As the Finance Minister said, Singapore needs to be a society where everyone can contribute to and share in the country’s progress “regardless of where they start from”. Unwed mother’s children should not have to suffer because of the way they began life.

Families with children
We are glad to see the greater support for early childhood education and caregiving services, and particularly the attention given to the needs of the low income groups. This will go some ways toward addressing income inequalities. If the provision of pre-school education and childcare is left entirely to the private sector, we run the risk of widening the inequalities between Singaporeans.

The measures announced are targeted at individual families. AWARE hopes to see more broad-based development of better quality services as well as more comprehensive support so that:

  • parents will feel more assured that their children will be well taken care of while they work
  • the care of children will be more continuous, that is, there are no gaps from the time they are infants and when they go to primary school. This will allow women to stay in the workforce.

Specifically, we would like to see broad-based development of childcare services in these areas:

  • Professional staffs who are adequately rewarded for doing care work. This work is vitally needed and is currently undervalued.
  • Enhancement of support for infant care, which is currently expensive and inadequate.
  • More after-school care programmes for children.

AWARE would also like to see 2 weeks of mandatory paternity leave, and the conversion of the last 4 weeks of maternity leave into parental leave so that both men and women will have better support to achieve work-life balance.

Our seniors
Aware applauds the Finance Minister for the proposals put forth to build up our long-term care sector and to make the retirement years of our seniors more comfortable.

The top-up to the ElderCare Fund, and the matching government grants for donations to the long-term care sector, will go a long way in helping our VWO sector. Attracting and training good talent in the NGO sector is always a challenge and we agree with the Minister that these efforts will help ease some of the resource pain of the voluntary organizations and the caregivers.

Aware is also very heartened to see the financial support for low income elderly people to improve their mobility and obtain devices such as wheelchairs.

Caregivers of the elderly and disabled are a very important part of an inclusive society. The families of elders and the disabled require some special attention and relief.

Aware would like to see more effective steps to lighten the load on caregivers. Specifically:

  • increased subsidies for women and men who care for dependent relatives (pegged to the median income)
  • conversion of the 6 days paid childcare leave into dependent’s leave
  • the expansion or creation of new schemes, with appropriate subsidies, to meet the transportion needs of those for whom public transport is not a viable alternative.

The younger disabled members of our society also require special consideration. We hope that the day care, developmental and mobility needs of this audience will be addressed by the government. An inclusive society will seek to empower the disabled so that they can become contributing members of the community and live with dignity.

As Singapore’s population matures, Aware calls for a multi-agency taskforce to study Singapore’s caregiving needs and to formulate programs and policies that will better meet these needs.

Helping the needy
We are glad to learn that the Public Assistance scheme will be revised and rates raised. We hope the revision will include a new flexibility in assessing who qualifies for Public Assistance as there are people who own a flat but are cash-strapped and unable to earn a living.

We also hope that financial assistance will be extended to foreign wives (of Singaporean men) who are in distress, and especially if they have children.

Women and employment
AWARE notes the emphasis on increasing productivity by way of business restructuring, increased use of technology and upgrading workers’ skills and capabilities. This means that people who stay out of the workforce will fall behind even faster than before and will find it hard to catch up.

We ask that the needs of women be taken into account in the implementation of this strategy. For example, mothers with young children should be given sufficient support to ensure that they are able to stay in the workforce and can participate in the various skills upgrading programmes.

We did not see any mention of increased infant care or after-school or before-school care facilities, the promotion of flexible work arrangements or provision of mandatory paternity leave to ensure that the working environment is conducive to allowing mothers to continue work. We hope that these provisions have been made and will be elaborated upon during the Committee of Supply debate.

A Woman’s Perspective on The Budget

The following position paper was submitted by AWARE to Singapore’s policy-makers in February 2011 before the budget was released. Our response to the government’s budget allocation is here.

AWARE has for 25 years sought to bring to the attention of policy-makers and the public issues related to gender matters. Our goal is a society without inequalities, one where gender is in no way a limiting factor in an individual’s life choices and opportunities for a full and fulfilling life.

The Singapore Budget is an important part of the policy making process. This annual allocation of funds to government entities and national projects reflects the country’s needs and priorities as identified by the policy-makers.

AWARE believes it is important to bring a women’s perspective to policy making. Women make up half the population. Women’s issues are the nation’s issues, and every step taken to deal with these issues and to ensure the development of women will mean better outcomes for families and for society generally.

We are therefore submitting these proposals for discussion and consideration by the policy-makers in the shaping of the Budget and formulation and implementation of programmes.

AREAS OF CONCERN
Women have a role to play in all aspects of a nation’s development. In this, our initial submission regarding the Singapore Budget, we are however focusing on six areas.

They are:
1. Transparency of data
2. Families with children
3. Caregiving
4. People in financial distress
5. Women’s health
6. Women and employment.

Apart from our proposals, listed below, in these six areas, AWARE also urges the government to consider the following:

a) Start a gender sensitization programme at the Civil Service College so that policy-makers will better understand gender issues and the impact of gender-biased assumptions and attitudes.

b) Form a multi-agency taskforce to study Singapore’s caregiving needs and formulate policies and programmes that will better meet these needs. With Singapore’s ageing population, this is an area of growing concern to many.

c) Adopt median income as the standard yardstick for eligibility for all assistance schemes. Currently the eligibility criterion varies from scheme to scheme, or is not made clear.

d) Ensure that information about assistance schemes and services is made known to anyone in possible need of them. Currently this information is not always brought to the attention of possible recipients.

e) Look into the issue of income disparities in a concerted manner, aiming to develop sustainable programmes to help distressed families move up from the lowest rungs of the socio-economic ladder.

PROPOSALS

Transparency Of Data
Researchers and others attempting to understand Singapore society and identify needs are sometimes stymied by the lack of sufficiently detailed and consistent data.
a) We urge the government to be consistent in how information is collected and made available for public use. In particular we would like to have data that is disaggregated by sex, age and citizenship.
b) We would like to see, starting with Budget 2011, a clearer delineation of budget allocations by the communities that need caregiving assistance, with a breakdown of these communities by sex, age and citizenship.
c) We also hope that, starting with Budget 2011, there will be a standard way by which allocations for ministries are itemised as Operational or Development Expenditure.

Families With Children
A major concern in recent years has been Singapore’s declining birth rate. While there are many reasons for this, an important consideration for many prospective parents is adequate childcare facilities. AWARE also believes that policies to support gender equality are needed.

a) AWARE urges the government to invest in more and better centres to care for infants, children and youths.

b) These centres will need to be adequately staffed, so appropriate recruitment and training programmes should be initiated and better wage structures put in place.

c) The eligibility criteria for subsidies for childcare and kindergarten should be pegged to the prevailing median income.

d) More incentives should be made available for employers to offer flexible work arrangements and parental leave.

e) Paid paternity leave of two weeks should be made mandatory, and single fathers with dependent children should qualify for the same tax reliefs on the levy they pay for employing foreign domestic workers, a perk enjoyed by women with children.

f) One month of the current four month maternity leave should be converted to parental leave to be taken by either spouses; families where the father takes the one month parenting leave to be rewarded with the one time payment of a parenting present of $4000.

g) Unwed mothers should be extended the same motherhood and childcare benefits as married mothers.

Caregiving
Much has been said about Singapore’s ageing population but not enough is being done to understand and support the needs of those who must care for aged and other dependent relatives. AWARE believes the following measures are needed:

a) Increase the number of day-care centres and nursing homes for the elderly and other adults with special needs. This increase should be matched by the recruitment and training of adequate numbers of staff.

b) Increase the subsidies for women and men who care for dependent relatives (i.e. physically disabled or mentally ill children and siblings; elderly parents or grandparents), and peg the eligibility criteria to the prevailing median income.

c) Convert the currently mandated 6 days of paid childcare leave into dependent’s leave that any employed person can claim.

d) Offer the elderly and the disabled free and unconditional access to public transport. Expand or create new schemes, with appropriate subsidies, to meet the transportation needs of those for whom buses and trains are not a viable option. As an interim measure, consider subsidies for access to private vehicles for such individuals and their caregivers.

e) Ensure that all pavements and other public areas are truly barrier-free and friendly to the disabled and the infirm, and speed up the Lift Upgrading Programme so that all blocks of flats are barrier-free for the elderly and the infirm.

f) Offer subsidies for the purchase of physiotherapeutic equipment for the elderly and the disabled, with eligibility criteria pegged to the median income.

g) Offer more shelter space for women in distress and families on the move because of upheavals in home ownership

People in Financial Distress
AWARE welcomes the Intensive Case Management approach of the government in dealing with those caught in the poverty trap. This is the kind of sustainable solution that is needed.

a) While the Intensive Case Management approach is to be lauded, its success will depend on there being sufficient resources to engage quality professionals and train more workers so that more families can be helped.

b) The government should review the efficacy of the Many-Helping-Hands approach in meeting the needs of those in distress, and consider extending cash transfers to them for longer periods so they have more time to find their feet.

c) It should take a more flexible approach with those on Public Assistance who own a flat but who are cash-strapped. Often these are elderly or otherwise incapacitated people unable to earn a living.

d) The government should consider extending token cash transfers (i.e. small sums of pocket money) to those living in homes for the destitute to help them meet personal needs. Even the destitute deserve dignity.

e) Where foreign wives (of Singaporeans) are in distress, financial assistance should be extended to them.

Women’s Health
a) AWARE would like to see transparency on the Medifund criteria and a breakdown by sex and age of its impact on women.

b) We also ask for information on the costs incurred by women with regard to hospital admissions, medication and treatment programmes, especially for the top five killer diseases of women.

Women And Employment
a) We would like to see a greater effort made to retain women in the workforce:
Eliminate discrimination against women at the workplace, including any form of sexual
harassment. Put in place programmes that motivate and support capable women to aspire to and reach management and leadership positions.

b) We ask for incentives for employers to retain women in the formal workforce in the same manner that employers have been incentivised to retain older workers.

c) AWARE would like to see the Continuing Education Training programmes reach greater numbers of women, and asks for information on the response so far to these programmes.

d) We would also like to see the Workfare Training Supplement schemes be inclusive of women and ask for information and the success rates of the scheme.

Read the summary HERE or read the submission in full text HERE.

The 2011 Budget was announced on Friday the 18th of February 2011.

Offering My Breasts For Science

Never did I think that feeling myself up would be beneficial to anyone but myself (and a webcam friend or two), but it is, and here I am. Topless. Sitting in one of America’s best medical schools, teaching eight doctors-to-be how to perform breast examinations.

It is my first day as a Genital Teaching Associate (GTA) and I am a little nervous. No one told me I’d be sitting in front of so many good-looking people. It’s like I’m on the set of Grey’s Anatomy. If only I’d known; I would’ve worn nicer pants.

GTAs are a group of specially trained men and women, who use their bodies as a model for medical students to practise breast, pelvic and rectal examinations. The rationale is that these examinations can be awkward and intimidating for both the patient and the medical practitioner.

Why not provide a safe, structured environment for nurses, medical students, and even some doctors to learn proper techniques, bedside manner and gain feedback?

Many students don’t realise it but they’ll put on their gloves, adjust their hair or some other germ-riddled item, and then touch a patient’s privates. Or they’ll forget to tuck their fingers in during a pelvic exam and tweak the clitoris. My personal favorite: Telling a patient to spread her legs.

I originallly became a GTA for less than altruistic reasons – I was doing research for a mockumentary script I was writing (that’s one of the benefits of this vocation – I get to try all sorts of things in the name of research). However, as I delved more into the world of GTAs, I realised the importance of the role they play. I don’t enjoy going to the gynaecologist. I think few women do. But I’ve been to enough gynae appointments to know that the person at the other end of speculum can make such a difference.

Some women, traumatised by their gynaecological experiences, eventually stop going. Given how important reproductive health is, if there is anything I can do to make the entire experience more pleasant and welcoming for others, why not? And it doesn’t hurt that GTAs are, quite understandably, compensated well.

Jaclyn Chan. Photo by Su Yin Mah.

The students are now standing in two lines, on either side of my breasts. There is a Gorgeous Man who has no problem with the exam (I presume he’s had a lot of personal experience). There’s the Giggly Lady, who is afraid to use any pressure, lest I explode. And then here is the Chubby Redhead, who is probably seeing his first, real-life breast.

Chubby Redhead is sweating buckets. As he steps up, all I can think about are the beads of perspiration, rolling down his face, coalescing into a huge globule and falling onto my chest. I resist the urge to giggle. Instead, I take his hand, put him at ease with humour and guide him through a few palpations. Mid-way, he stops and asks if he’s found a lump.

My breasts could be considered, for lack of a better word, textural. I ask Chubby Redhead to palpate the other breast. How does it feel? He shrugs; the same. Examining both breasts in comparison, I’ve learnt, is the fastest way to figure out baseline consistency. Gorgeous Man asks if he can have another go. I nod. Soon, others are asking for seconds.

Their desire to be good doctors fills me with pride. Single tear. There is hope for the medical profession.

Breast cancer is the second most common cancer amongst women. As much as medical practitioners provide an important line of defense, women owe it to themselves to be familiar with their bodies, so they will be aware of any changes. Although I consider myself to be fairly attuned to my body, my experience as a GTA, having to explain and articulate my thoughts to students, helped me understand it even more.

So, ladies, feel yourself up. Feel someone else up. Better yet, feel each other up, since breast lumps are very often found by partners. It’ll be fun and it might even save lives.

Jaclyn Chan is a television and film writer based in Singapore. She worked as a GTA while attending film school in Southern California three years ago.

Paternity leave should be made mandatory

Policies to support gender equality and improved parenting leave needed if Singapore hopes to reverse declining birth rate trend.

Singapore 9th February – AWARE called for comprehensive changes to parental leave in a press conference today, held at its Dover Crescent premises.

There are many reasons for Singapore’s low birth rate, but two important factors in trying to reverse the trend are better support for parenting responsibilities and policies that promote gender equality.

Studies have shown a direct correlation, in developed nations, between the level of gender equality in a society and its total fertility rate (TFR). When women have to bear the bulk of childcare responsibilities, they are less inclined to have children. Where there are policies that support gender equality and equally shared childcare duties between father and mother, more babies are born.

Singapore’s current parenting leave policies – four months for new mothers and none for new fathers – reinforce gender stereotypes of women as caregivers and men as providers.

These policies entrench gender inequality. These policies need to be changed if Singapore hopes to reverse the declining birth rate trend.

Specifically, AWARE calls for five policy changes:

● Make paid paternity leave of two weeks mandatory, with the cost shared between the employer and the state

● Convert the 4th month of maternity leave into ‘parental leave’ to be taken by either parent, with the state sharing the cost with the employer when the father takes this leave

● Offer a ‘parenting present’ of $4,000 to couples where the father takes the 4th month of parental leave

● Convert the currently mandated 6 days of paid childcare leave into dependent’s leave, with ‘dependents’ including older children and parents

● Extend to unwed parents the same parenting leave benefits enjoyed by married parents.

In making the call for these policy changes, and particularly for paid paternity leave to be mandated by law, AWARE finds support in the views expressed by 1,001 working parents in a recent survey commissioned by AWARE and conducted by students of Ngee Ann Polytechnic.

When asked whether they thought paternity leave should be made compulsory, 91% said yes. Of these, 93% explained that paternity leave would allow fathers to be more involved in parenting.

Half of the parents said their employers offered paid paternity leave, and of these the bulk – 59% – get between one and three days of such leave. Of the fathers who have a paternity leave option three quarters took the leave.

The AWARE-led survey was conducted by final-year Business Studies and Business Information Technology students who are specialising in marketing at Ngee Ann Polytechnic’s School of Business & Accountancy. Conducted between October 2010 and January 2011, the survey involved face-to-face interviews with 1,001 working mums and dads who have at least one child aged seven or below.

A significant number of the parents – 57% – said they would welcome having the option of transferring parenting leave from mother to father.

The joys of fatherhood

AWARE would like to see fathers given the opportunity to play a more active role in the care of their newborn babies, not just so that they will share the parenting load with their wives but also so that they will have more time for the joys of fatherhood and for developing a bond with their children.

This can be achieved by converting the 4th month of maternity leave into ‘parental leave’ that can be taken by either parent. To encourage fathers to take this leave and spend a month looking after their babies, AWARE suggests that a ‘parenting present’ of $4,000 be offered to couples where the father opts for this parental leave.

As employers might baulk at the idea of their male staff taking anything from two to six weeks of parental leave, AWARE suggests that the cost of this leave be shared between the employer and the state.

Dependent’s leave

Currently married parents with children under the age of seven are entitled to up to six days of paid childcare leave a year. AWARE would like to see this converted into six days of paid ‘dependent’s care’ leave applicable to any working Singaporean, with ‘dependents’ including older children and parents.

This, AWARE believes, would be a more equitable policy as it acknowledges the needs of working Singaporeans, whether married or single, who have to care for aged parents or dependent siblings. Furthermore, children above seven years old will still need the care of their parents.

Unwed parents

AWARE would like to see all parenting leave benefits available to married parents extended to unwed parents. Often it is these parents, and their children, who need the most support. Many are in their situation not by choice. Denying them parenting leave benefits is tantamount to punishing them, and their children, for being single parents.

AWARE’s position on this matter was shared by the parents surveyed – an overwhelming 91% said unwed parents deserve the same benefits as their married counterparts.

Read our media release HERE and take a look at the survey conducted by Ngee Ann Polytechnic’s School of Business & Accountancy HERE .

Misogynist Airwaves

987 FM DJ makes comments objectifying women and reinforcing unhealthy attitudes towards beauty, but listener Nina Carlina’s complaint has been ignored.

“Without accountability, communication is simply one-way transmission, limited in purpose, lacking response, guidance, or even known effect.” Denis McQuail, author of Media Accountability and Freedom of Publication. In the 21st Century, the mass media is increasingly powerful and at the same time increasingly hard to control.

McQuail argues it is possible (and desirable) for media to have freedom and be accountable at the same time. The media in Singapore is known for being answerable to the state. Yet how accountable is the Singapore media to the people?

Recently, a radio DJ on 987 FM, a station targetting impressionable young people, made gender and sexuality-related remarks that I found problematic. I sent an email to the editor of MediaCorp to voice this concern. Below was the message conveyed:

_______

Dear Editor,

I am sending this email because I am uncomfortable with Mr Young’s comments just aired in his late-night show.

I was tuning in to Mr Young’s late-night show on 987 on Friday, December 17th. In the short span of time I was tuned in, Mr Young made several comments about various female celebrities, including Nicole Scherzinger. What I noticed was that most of his comments of the female celebrities revolved around their bodies. He alluded to their curves, hotness, and at some point pointed out that hotness was about moving fats of the body around. He then said for women, fat could be moved from the butt (if it were too big) to the “chest area”, and then said that for women the chest area can never be too big.

 

Since this  radio programme has many teenage listeners,  the objectification and sexualisation of the female celebrities on air  is particularly worrying.  Young people (no pun intended) tend to be heavily influenced by the media, and poor body image among teenage girls is a real problem. The attempt to attain a certain ideal beauty standard is associated with eating disorders such as anorexia, bulimia–both growing problems among image-forming teens–Does Mr Young realise he is reinforcing this ideal beauty standard?

As a radio celebrity with many listeners, I think it is reasonable to hope that our local DJs will be more aware of social trends and be more concerned about promoting respect for people (not only for their physicality), and to help young people be positive about their self-image.

Moreover, in responding to a caller who had won tickets to some event, Mr Young immediately asked the male caller to bring three of his hottest friends, again emphasizing the importance of good looks. And then he at once followed with asking if the friends would be females. When the caller said he did not know, Mr Young was (or acted) shocked. He said he thought the caller did not know the sex of his friends, like he was bringing friends from Changi Village. Here, Mr Young alluded to the transsexuals of Singapore. When the caller said “no la…”, Mr Young breathed a sigh of relief and implied the idea of ‘Phew, that’s good’.

 

 

Here, Mr Young was subtly discriminatory towards the transgendered community in Singapore, already a very marginalized group. It may be subtle, but then most media messages that people internalize are plenty, all-around, and each seemingly subtle, yet in totality effective in propagating and reinforcing certain narrow and discriminatory ideas.
________

This message was sent on the 17th of December, 2010. About two weeks later, no response was received, and I sent another email asking for an acknowledgement of the receipt of the earlier email. As of January, 2011, I have not received any response from MediaCorp.

I am disappointed that the official media conglomerate of Singapore, MediaCorp failed to be responsible enough to address people and be accountable to them. This is especially problematic in an organisation whose work impacts the lives of people. Beyond being a matter of company and customer relations, one who controls the media should be aware of its social implications-such as the way it increasingly pervades our lives and influences our emotions and identity.

Nina Carlina

UPDATE: The writer has still received no response from Mediacorp.

Nina Carlina is a supporter of AWARE’s cause. She is currently completing her honors in Sociology at NUS.

Single in S’pore: “HDB system outdated”

The letter below was written by Chew I-Jin, chairperson of AWARE’s Sub-committee on single women. It was sent to the Straits Times Forum pages in late January. The editors received it but did not publish it.

Dear Sir/Madam,

AWARE supports call for singles to own flats at 25

I refer to the Forum Page letter “Let Singles Own HDB Flats at 25” ( ST; Jan 25th) by Dr Lau Geok Theng.

AWARE appreciates the point raised by Dr Lau that offering HDB flat ownership earlier to singles does not mean that children will be less filial to their parents or abandon them. Singaporeans in the age group of 25-35 are typically in their career-building stage. They might seek to live independently of their parents and often wish to channel their money into owning a property in this climate of escalating prices rather than see their hard-earned wages go into rentals (HDB resale prices rose about 75 per cent over the last 5 years, as derived from the HDB resale price index and the cheapest HDB 3-room flat with 2 bed-rooms that a single Singaporean can rent is about S$1,500).

The current policy of making home ownership available to singles at the age of 35 and above is based on a false premise that this delay will increase filial piety or reduce the chances of younger adults engaging in pre-marital sex. Independent living is not a sign of non-filial piety as pointed out by Dr Lau. Further, in some cases the family home is no longer a conducive environment or cannot accommodate the young adult.

The current HDB regulation remains outdated and discriminatory to a section of the community – young singles aged 35 and below.

It is a blunt policy that does not take into account the maturing and diverse culture in Singapore and how younger women and men are striving to find a space of their own without having to get married to secure a flat.

In fact, AWARE contends that a provision to offer flat ownership to those 25 and above can also mean developing an HDB landscape of mixed precincts for families, the elderly single and the young single, thus nurturing a lively ecosystem of housing for diverse Singaporeans of all ages and stages of life. AWARE believes that this a more constructive way to develop inter-connectedness with independent lifestyles, and so build the ‘vertical kampong spirit’ that Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong spoke of recently.

AWARE supports the call made by Dr Lau and asks for HDB policies to be adjusted to eliminate discrimination against young singles in Singapore.

Chew I-Jin (Ms)
Chair
Singles Sub-committee, Research & Advocacy,
AWARE (Association of Women for Action & Research)