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Year: 2011

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Made In Dagenham Exclusive Preview

Dagenham, England, 1968. An ordinary woman fights for equal pay and achieves something extraordinary.

Golden Village is offering preview tickets to an exclusive screening of Made In Dagenham, on Wednesday March 23rd, 7pm at Cinema Europa ,Vivocity.

The film, from the director of Calendar Girls, stars Bob Hoskins and Sally Hawkins and is based on the true story of the the 1968 women’s strike at the Ford auto factory in Dagenham, east London.

A group of female sewing machinists staged a walk-out when they found out they were classified as “unskilled workers” while their male counterparts were considered skilled, and hence got paid much more for doing the same job.

The women stopped work for three weeks, and demanded equal pay for equal work. Their strike fast-tracked Britain’s Equal Pay Act of 1970 which made it illegal for employers to apply different pay scales to male and female staff. Read more about the Dagenham women’s strike here.

The advance screening will be followed by a dialogue session called Blog Aloud. Led by AWARE’s president Nicole Tan and honourary secretary Lindy Ong. Nicole and Lindy will discuss the film and explore the greater issue of workplace gender equality.

Date: Wednesday 23rd March
Time: 7pm (Movie Screening), 8:55pm (Blog Aloud dialogue session)
Venue: Cinema Europa GV Vivocity
Tickets: $10. They can be bought online here.

What Are My Choices As A Young Woman In Singapore?

This Opinion Editorial was published in the 8th March 2011 edition of Today. View the story as it was published here. The writer recently joined AWARE as Research and Advocacy Executive.

Siti Nadzirah Samsudin, a 23-year-old Singaporean woman and AWARE employee finds herself asking some tough questions this International Women’s Day.

As a young woman in Singapore, I enjoy many luxuries. I can walk the streets alone at night and still feel safe; I have access to clean water and food; I can vote (if I ever have the opportunity to) and I have access to education. In theory, I have the same opportunities as a man my age.

Ideas of gender and how society views men and women differently were planted in my mind during my studies at the University of Melbourne. It was only after I graduated, returned to Singapore and began looking for my first job did I realise that, things for me and my male counterparts aren’t so equal after all.

I was applying to NIE to become a teacher and saw that the pay scale was different depending on your gender. Regardless of job performance or experience, men earn more, to make up for the fact that they serve mandatory National Service. A little more research and I found out that more men hold higher positions earning more money than women. Of the few women occupying higher ranks, I could only imagine the discrimination and the stereotyping they are faced with. And where a woman gets pregnant, she may be dismissed because the company does not want to deal with her absence during her pregnancy. The unfairness of this! This made me re-think my entire career. What do I want to do? What can I do?

At Women’s Choices, Women’s Lives, Shaping the Next 25 Years, a conference organised by AWARE last Saturday, I found myself asking more questions. Questions about what it means to be a young woman in Singapore, and what the future holds for me and my fellow females.

The conference featured experts like Dr Kanwaljit Soin talking on the plight of older women, Professor Linda Lim doing a comparison between women in the economy today and 25 years ago, Professor Teo You Yenn on women’s choices in relation to family and Braema Mathi on gender discrimination in general

Listening to these speakers, I asked myself “Indeed, what are my choices?” Are the measures that have been put into place now by the government enough to support my decision to juggle family and career at the same time? Letters streaming into the media detailing a working mother’s struggle. They plead for more options, more help but instead we have the government announcing that they will not intervene on the issue of parental care. But yet, they call on more women to start making babies. Is a monetary gift enough of an incentive? I do not think so. Sure, the money will be a great help, but for how long?

Will my employer be considerate and understanding if I have to take urgent leave to care for my child? What about those couples who choose not to get married but still have children – they are contributing towards Singapore’s fertility rate, so will they get the same support? What about single mums who need even more help than two-parent families? And the most pressing question: Isn’t whether I do or do not have children my personal decision to make, and not the government’s?

Looking further into the future… How will I live out my golden years? Will I be healthy and happy? What if I contract chronic illness? The World Health Organisation ranked Singapore’s health care system 6th in terms of effectiveness. But, when looking at fairness of the system we ranked 101 out of 191. Why? Perhaps because anyone aged above 85 is not covered by Medishield or Medisave. So in our ageing society, elderly people and their caregivers (usually children, the very same ones being pushed to have more children of their own) are expected to shoulder costly medical expenses. And yet in the recent budget the government set aside 25.6% on defence, and only 5% for health care.

So many questions. And such difficult choices. I feel like being a woman has its disadvantages, but that does not mean that I should accept it as the status quo. I should work towards changing the circumstances around me to my advantage. I say, there is no such thing as “no choice”. There is always a choice even if it is limited. We choose how we respond, how graciously we accept our choices or lack of choices. My choice is to work towards creating more choices for me, for women, for Singapore.

Siti Nadzirah Samsudin recently joined AWARE as Research and Advocacy Executive. She graduated from the University of Melbourne in 2010 with a degree in Arts majoring in Political Science and Development.

Media Release: Gender Equity Essential for Singapore’s Next Lap


AWARE-NUSS conference calls for Constitution to prohibit gender discrimination and quota set for women in Parliament.

Singapore, March 8th 2011 – For all the progress made in the last 25 years, gender discrimination still exists in Singapore today. This was the unanimous view of the 200 or so participants at the Women’s Choices, Women’s Lives: Shaping the Next 25 Years conference held on Sat 5 March.

This discrimination must be eradicated and gender equity achieved if Singapore is to truly flourish in the next 25 years and if the challenges of the low fertility rate and the ageing population are to be tackled effectively, the conference participants agreed.

The conference, organised by AWARE and the National University of Singapore Society, was a reprise of the eponymous 1984 NUSS forum which led to the founding of AWARE. It marked both the close of AWARE’s 25th anniversary celebrations and the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day on March 8th.

Following presentations by Singapore’s leading feminists, participants took part in facilitated group discussions and drew up a gender equity wish list to present to policy makers.

The key recommendations to policy makers are:

1. A quota of 30 per cent be set for women in Parliament as recommended by the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), which was ratified by Singapore in 1995.

2. That an independent body (such as an ombudsman or commission) be formed to ensure equal opportunities for both women and men.

3. The Singapore Constitution be amended to prohibit gender discrimination.

4. All policies and legislation be reviewed and all gender discriminatory laws, policies and practices be removed or replaced with laws, policies and practices that promote an equitable and sustainable work-life balance for both women and men.

5. Gender studies be added to the core curriculum for all students, and in the Civil Service.

6. Budgetary allocations to health care be increased significantly so as to ensure the good health of older people.

7. Care-giving (of the young and the elderly) should be recognised as a gender-neutral skill, and the quality of, and access to, care facilities and services for children, elderly and the disabled should be improved.

Recommendations were also made for corporations, as well as individual men and women, to consider. The main ones are:

8. Employers should adopt non-discriminatory policies and practices as part of their organisations’ corporate culture, including zero tolerance of sexual harassment.

9. Employers should optimise flexibility for employees in terms of workplace and working hours, based on the understanding that productivity is enhanced by workers who are able to sustain a supportive work-life balance.

10. Individual men and women should seek to build equal partnerships in all spheres of life, including the workplace and the home, with shared responsibilities for the care of the young and the old.

The above are some of the 100 recommendations that were submitted by participants during the conference. AWARE will be reviewing these and will submit finalised recommendations to policy makers and other stakeholders.

Kapap Ladies’ Self-Defense 2-hour Sampler

AWARE is offering a 2-hour sampler workshop on KAPAP Self-Defense. No frills self-defense training course for women of the general public, ages 13 and above. It’s easy to learn, practical, and safe to practice.

Here are the techniques you will learn:

– 3 principles of takedown

– shield

– stance and movement

– palm strike

– forearm grabs and hairpull

– street grappling

KAPAP is the Hebrew acronym for Face To Face Combat. It is the original combat system of defensive tactics, hand-to-hand combat and self-defense employed by the Israeli defense and security forces, the Israeli National Police, and its special operations and anti-terrorist units.

Sign-up details:

Sampler -2-hour Kapap Ladie’s Self-Defence

Date: September 24, 2011, Saturday

 

Time:  10am to 12 noon

 

Where:
AWARE Centre

How much?

Non-member -$100 for one sign-up or $180 for a pair sign-up
Member- $80 for one sign up or $140 for a pair sign-up

Reserve your spot now!  Click HERE to register.

Email publiceducation@aware.org.sg for more information.

This crash course gives you an overview of our 10-session Ladies’ Self Defense class, where you will learn so much more. See Kapap Women’s 10-session Self-Defense.

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.