Preview

Has gender equality been achieved in Si hellip

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
584 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Has gender equality been achieved in Si hellip
Has gender equality been achieved in Singapore?

“Gender equality” constitutes the provision of the same opportunities to all genders. Males and females are physically, and psychologically different. This leads them to having different wants and needs hence treating them equally might actually result in gender inequality rather than “gender equality”. With that, “has gender equality been achieved in Singapore?”

Firstly, the traditional perception of the roles that men and women ought to take on are still very much ingrained in Singaporeans. For instance, the concept of househusbands remains foreign. This is largely influenced by society’s association of househusbands with adjectives such as “weak” and “emasculated”, framed by the stereotypical view that such a “feminine” role should only be filled by women. In addition, societal expectations of women causes women to have more duties at home as compared to men in terms of housework. However, such a mindset is slowly being changed as evidenced by the Singaporean government’s introduction of Government Paid Paternity Leave policy where fathers are able to obtain paid leave after a child is born, subject to certain conditions. Policies like this are instrumental to achieving greater equality among the genders. Nevertheless, Singapore has still some ways to go before achieving total “gender equality”.

Next, Singapore is a country that places great emphasis on meritocracy, allowing for objectivity and minimises discrimination. As a young nation, it takes time to change the beliefs and stereotypes that many have grown up with. For example, girls did not have the same educational opportunities as their male peers in the past. Now, equal education opportunities are made available to any individual who meets the entrance criteria, in adherence to the meritocratic system. In spite of all this, the fact that important roles such as the President are still dominated by males. A study carried out by the Diversity Task



References: Ministry of Social and Family Development. (2014).Women under-represented on boards of sgx-listed companies. Retrieved from: http://app.msf.gov.sg/press-room/women-under-represented-on-boards-of-sgx-listed- Yahya, Y., & Tan, M. (2014, Oct 28). The global gender gap: Here 's how Singapore compares to the rest of the woprld. The Straits Times. Retrieved from http://www.straitstimes.com/news/business/more-business-stories/story/the-global-gender-gap-heres-how-singapore-compares-the-res

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    When their wives leave, men are faced with the challenge of adapting to changes in traditional gendered roles. According to Pingol (2000, 2001), Ilocano men are often overwhelmed by the sheer amount of relentless work since they take over the role of mothers while they are away. The results regarding household work vary. Some readily accept the changes while some dissociate themselves or relegate the responsibilities to someone else (Angeles 2001; Hoang and Yeoh 2011; Nagasaki 2016; Parreñas 2005; Pingol 2000, 2001). Reasons for adapting to or rejecting these changes varies. Hoang and Yeoh (2011)’s men depict the performance of household work as part of their duty as responsible fathers. Others however, conceive doing household work because there is no alternative (Parreñas 2005). Some consider the dominance between them and their spouses; as long as husbands maintain authority over the household, men will be more likely to acknowledge their spouses’ financial contribution (Parreñas 2005). However, not all rely on their wives’ remittances. They try to maintain financially afloat through side jobs (Pingol 2001); they utilize their wives’ income only for their children’s expenses (Cappelloni 2011). Huang and Yeoh (2011) explain that employment is a mechanism to preserve their elevated, pre-migration…

    • 638 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The authors have made different suggestions about the solutions to the problem. One thing that is common among the various author’s discussions is that, the society has made significant progress in promoting gender equality but at the same time, the society is still the biggest barrier to gender equality. This is because; even if the structures are created to allow women to have a significant role in the society, the perception of the society and institutions undermines the women role due to stereotyping and expectations. Therefore, the ultimate solution to the gender equality problem is changing the perception in the…

    • 485 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Women and Glbt

    • 305 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The general consensus of a woman today is no longer confined to the home as a housekeeper and mother taking care of her children. Great strides have been made for women. Today, women are CEOs, hold political offices, business owners, police officers, and much more. Not only are women all of these, but they continue to be the mother and housekeeper as well. They are not simply seen as the weaker sex, but are now seen as intellectually equal to their male counterparts. In some instances, the roles have been reversed in this modern age and some women are the wage earners of the family and the male is the housekeeper and…

    • 305 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    twenty four hour truce

    • 1587 Words
    • 4 Pages

    First and foremost we need to define what gender equality is. Gender equality can be regarded as the measurable equal representation of women and men. Gender equality does not infer that women and men are the same; amongst other reasons we are not the same and we will never be the same mainly because of our biological stand points. But gender equality does imply that both men and women ought to have equal value and should be accorded equal treatment; not only in the workplace but in the societal view as a whole.…

    • 1587 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    As a female working in a professional environment and living in a society that promotes economic, social and cultural rights I often find myself concerned with gender equality. Sometimes I feel that gender equality is just a myth, because, I have yet to see women promoted or granted the same salaries as their male counterparts in the workplace, or treated equally in society. Gender equality is the measurable equal representation of women and men; however, it does not imply that women and men are the same, but that they have equal value and should be accorded equal treatment. Women desire to live and work in a world where the equal dignity and worth of every individual is respected and valued.…

    • 561 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Stay-at-home Dad.

    • 1243 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The belief that men are not capable of taking care of a child is now being challenged. Fathers are now taking on a more active role in their child’s life by allowing their wives to peruse her career goals while they stay at home with the children. Women are now left with the task of being the family’s primary breadwinners. As both step outside their expected gender roles the challenge of gender stereotypes found in families have been questioned.…

    • 1243 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Inequality In America

    • 960 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Due to the gender roles provided by society from birth, women are taught to behave and act a certain way within the house. They are thought of as child bearers, cooks, caregivers, and the person who is responsible for other chores around the house; Arlie Hochschild calls this effect the second shift (Conley 469). Due to this effect on society, women may be seen as less expected to work full-time, when in fact, only 3 percent of women managers said that family responsibilities were a main obstacle in their career (Empowering Women). With women being placed into a set category and role, this causes men to see them as weak and unable to work full-time. This barrier could be broken by a more forward way of thinking towards women’s roles in society. There are plenty of women who do not fit the role of housewife, and by placing them into this role, they are being unrightfully judged. With a more forward way of thinking, this issue of set role can be solved within the work…

    • 960 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    With the mainstreaming of social constructivist theories relating to gender roles, it is important for one to appreciate that all arguments surrounding gender roles are historically and culturally contingent. The meaning of this is that something that might be true about gender roles in one society’s cultural group might be different when it comes to another cultural group. Likewise, gender roles in all over the world have significantly changed over time. Therefore, there is no generalizable and universal statement regarding gender roles. The common thread in the discussion about gender roles has been the historical evolution of the family, from a time where families were single-income families, which were families where one spouse (the father) is in charge of…

    • 1826 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Analyzed Gender Roles

    • 1580 Words
    • 7 Pages

    In this essay, I will demonstrate how unchallenged specialized gender roles ignored the limits of women in domestic roles, creating a high disproportion of workload on mothers. These gender roles continued into the modern era where women fulfilled these gender roles even after gaining working rights. Many families faced the challenge of finding their balance between taking care of their children, running the household and working full time jobs. This balance has only become more strenuous for families due to economic and social pressures. The economic conditions are not stable enough where a wife can finally depend on their husbands and the social conditions put pressure on mothers to take care of their children, housework and uphold their…

    • 1580 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Gender Roles

    • 2263 Words
    • 10 Pages

    Ferri and Smith suggest that unlike Gershuny, increased employment has had little impact of the domestic labour as fewer than 4% of families had a father responsible for childcare. Therefore, women still remain responsible for the children as well as their employment responsibility; clearly suggesting that modern family life is not as equal as it seems. The dual burden is also supported by Dunscombe and Marsden’s theory of a triple burden in that women are expected to do the double shift of housework and paid work but also the caring of the emotional welfare of the family. This clearly disputes Gershuny’s idea that women are more equal due to employment as the triple burden means that they in fact gain more responsibilities than losing them. This is also supported by the radical feminist idea of ‘gender scripts’ in that there are expected norms in terms of gender roles and so patriarchal relationships are inevitable. Therefore, they suggest that equality without burdens will only be reached through same-sex relationships as this eliminates the ‘gender script’ idea. Thus, this enhances the inequality of the family, and suggests that the view that gender roles and relationships are becoming more equal is in fact incorrect as the…

    • 2263 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Feminist or gender inequality had been a social issue for several years now. It is an issue where the society believes that women are best suited for family or non-career employment path. However, as modernization takes place, there were series of studies conducted which shows how this social issue is now being accepted by the society which also shows changes in the society’s behavior. In a study conducted by Nicolson (2015), they found out that gender inequality issues during the twenty-first century are now taken less seriously than what was frequently portrayed in the late 1990’s. During the late 1990’s, women are excluded from making organizational goals and are neglected to held managerial positions (cited from Sealy,2013). Although men traditionally succeed over women when it comes to pay, status and positions, women of today are now entering what was known as preserve male positions such as managerial positions and politics. They also found out that having gender balance inside a workforce would likely result in a better performance and effective decision making(cited from Sealy,2013). As modernization takes place, the society also changes the way they perceive things around them. In the gender inequality example mentioned, it shows that women of today are now eager to work and compete in a male dominated industry.…

    • 773 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    With current economic recession and inflation on the rise, the rising cost of living is beginning to take a toll on families. Stress is placed on the sole breadwinner of the family, the being the head male of the house, to earn a better income to provide for his growing family. Again, a woman has to be able to hold the family together to make sure that the family doesn’t fall apart. This means that no time is given for women to excel in their jobs, which then adds to the fact that women cannot be the sole breadwinners. As mentioned earlier, women are constantly being lauded for being able to cook well and at the same time, keep the house spic and span. Adding on to that, the widespread fact that women belong at home, especially in the kitchen, is being constantly being portrayed in TV shows, popular movies, books, and on the internet available for everyone to see.…

    • 534 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    (Chan & Cheung, 2007) Stated that the most evident indicator that gender inequality is influenced by the culture is that policies and rules are implemented to counter such inequality. In addition to, different countries in Europe have approved such policies to protect gender equality. For example, gender equality has been the subject of government policy making in the United Kingdom at several points during the (20th) century (Chan & Cheung, 2007). Furthermore, the U.K. government have implement and introduce these policies, there must have been a general agreement within the government and the society that gender inequality must be eliminated (Chan & Cheung, 2007). In order to these causes it leading to the one major effect of gender inequality which is education. The degree to which the goals of men dominate those of women, societies can be distinguished in terms of masculinity and femininity. According to (Chan & Cheung, 2007) in a high-MAS society, men’s and women’s values are very different, men are stimulated to be tougher than women. Men are meant to be confident and ambitious while women are expected to be caring. In high-MAS societies, men are expected to be career minded. On the other hand, if women accomplish to climb to the top of the hierarchy, they tend to be viewed as very assertive. (Bauer, feng, Riley, & xiaohua, 1992)…

    • 798 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Diversity and Inclusion

    • 706 Words
    • 3 Pages

    With diversity and inclusion we are more or less replicating the structure of the society into an Organization. It is a proven fact both men and women are biologically the same and hence equal opportunities must be given to them in each and every sphere of life. Any discrimination or biasing done on the basis of Caste, Creed or cultural background will eventually lead to huge amount of talent being wasted and ultimately a loss for the organization.…

    • 706 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Gender may be defined as one`s identity as male or female. It is a social concept and this term according to Stebbins (1990) is related to the one`s awareness of oneself as a sexual being and as thinking, and behaving. The unequal treatment base on that identity is known as gender inequality.…

    • 254 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics