Dear reader,
Happy International Women’s Day! Well, it’s actually tomorrow, and we’ve got some relevant content below to keep you company this weekend.
Why do we talk about Palestine, but not Ukraine? One of you asked this in the wake of last Friday’s Oval Office testosterone overflow. Well, we’ve prioritised covering international issues in which Singapore has a more direct connection and/or those that our local media shies away from, like our complicity in Israel’s war on Gaza or the financing of the Myanmar junta. I hope we can keep growing, hiring people, and expanding our coverage. You can help us today by forwarding this to a friend.
- Is Lawrence Wong losing the cost-of-living debate?
- Jamus Lim and Donald Low, separately, knock out a Prof and a Pole
- Fresh government funds to clean public toilets, but what can you do?
- We’re running out of landfill space for our garbage. How?
- “Geostrategic climate change”, featuring Ng Eng Hen and Vivian Balakrishnan
- The connections between “The Brutalist”, Oscar nominee, and Singapore
- Smuggling AI chips through Malaysia for DeepSeek
And more, in our weekly digest. Read it now.
Essay. One of the sad things about our 30s and 40s is that more of us will experience the mutual pain of separation and divorce, whose reverberations also affect many around the two parties. In conversations with other Singaporean men, it’s startling how many of us are just plain blur about the Women’s Charter. Why do only women have one? Does the Charter guarantee them financial support, no matter what? Is Singaporean society biased against fathers over mothers?
I can partly understand our ignorance. Privilege and prejudice when it comes to gender—or race, for that matter—is not something we’re necessarily encouraged to interrogate growing up. The veneer of equality and harmony, imbued with Confucian ideals favouring community, family and piety (aka “Asian values”), maintains order in a system clinically focussed on economic growth. And when we grow up, find a partner and settle down to our happily-ever-after, the thought of a break-up is often beyond the realm of possibility. Marriage, kids, stable family: the reproductive engine of the capitalist machine.
There’s therefore little reason for Singaporean men to think too hard about the purpose of the Women’s Charter—until faced with the prospect of divorce. It is in this legal and emotional fog that many misunderstandings and falsehoods fester, a situation worsened by the echo chambers of charged digital platforms.
That’s why today’s commentary, “The Women’s Charter: why it works and how it must be reformed”, is so timely and necessary. “NC”, a Singaporean lawyer, traces the Charter’s origins to the fiery, exciting 1950s, when Singaporean society, on the cusp of independence, was contemplating what modernity meant.
“Before the 1959 general election, the People’s Action Party (PAP) announced in its election manifesto that it will work to ‘free working-class women from domestic drudgery’. The PAP chairman said, ‘In the first instance in order to emancipate them from the bonds of feudalism and conservatism a monogamous marriage law will be passed.’”
NC describes the Charter’s evolution over the years, and debunks common misconceptions through the findings of actual court cases. For instance, women who were financially independent during marriage, or who did not have their earning capacity adversely affected through the course of marriage are “unlikely to be granted spousal maintenance”, NC argues.
Yet NC believes the Charter needs further reform, “so men and women enjoy the same opportunities; and to better prevent the Charter being a scapegoat for male grievances.” NC pitched this commentary to us a few weeks ago, timing it for International Women’s Day. Jom only agrees to anonymity in rare situations, and after a long chat with NC, we believe that there could be professional and personal repercussions of her views and recommendations here.
What are they? Read her commentary now to find out. And do reply with your own responses. We must start talking more about these things openly, early, before we find ourselves in dire circumstances. That’s the only way we can collectively build the just, fair and equal society we all want.
Jom bincang,
Sudhir
Editor-in-chief, Jom
If you’ve enjoyed our newsletters, please scroll to the bottom of this page to sign up to receive them direct in your inbox.
