Review on women's issues in Singapore to be extended so more can participate
SINGAPORE – Those interested in contributing to the review on women’s issues will have more opportunities to do so, as it will be extended until the second half of the year.
About 100 more dialogue sessions and conversations have been planned, after earlier sessions attracted more than 1,000 participants.
Announcing this on the sidelines of a dialogue on Saturday (Jan 16), Home Affairs and Law Minister K. Shanmugam said due to the strong interest in the review, a White Paper that was supposed to culminate all the discussions will be pushed back from the first to the second half of the year.
Speaking to reporters at the Singapore Women’s Development Dialogue, he said: “It is going to be a very substantive ground up feedback.
“And to take all that in – just conducting the sessions, taking the feedback seriously, analysing it, doing the trade-offs, working out what is possible, inter-ministry with all the ministries coming together – the White Paper will be put up in the second half of 2021.”
The comprehensive review of issues affecting women was announced by Mr Shanmugam in September last year, with the ultimate aim of bringing about a cultural and mindset change on values such as gender equality and respect for women.
Reiterating the need to approach the issue in a more fundamental and philosophical way, Mr Shanmugam said one of the things the review will look at is whether gender equality should be enshrined in the Constitution.
“It will have to be considered as part of an inter-ministerial Government process, debated, decided upon, and I’ll be frank, there are different considerations and trade-offs to be considered,” he said.
“So, I gave a personal viewpoint. It’s got to be looked at, the different perspectives will be debated internally, and it will be reflected in the outcome.”
Since the review kicked off in October last year, many proposals and suggestions have been put up.
And top on the list of issues raised has been how to deal with sexual offences, including whether penalties should be increased, whether more conduct should be criminalised, and what kinds of factors should be taken into account during sentencing, Mr Shanmugam disclosed.
The review had been sparked in part by incidents of voyeurism on campuses, he had said last year.
Mr Shanmugam added that participants have also provided feedback on how the school curriculum can be tweaked to inculcate the value of respect for women.
Among the 1,000 people who have participated in the conversations organised by non-governmental and grassroots organisations so far, some 25 per cent were men.
This was cheered by Minister of State for Education and Social and Family Development Sun Xueling, who is among three political office-holders leading the review.
The other two are Minister of State for Culture, Community and Youth and Trade and Industry Low Yen Ling, and Parliamentary Secretary for Health Rahayu Mahzam.
Ms Sun, who was taking part in Saturday’s dialogue, organised by the Singapore Council of Women’s Organisations and held via video-conferencing, said: “I am happy to see increasing participation from our men. Your views and suggestions are very important, because the aspirations of Singapore women can best be realised when it is a whole of society commitment.”
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