The landmark White Paper on Singapore Women’s Development, launched on 28 March 2022, has sparked a flurry of responses from the Singapore public, running the gamut from excitement to disappointment.

Accordingly, AWARE held an informal virtual town hall on Thursday, 14 April 2022, to allow AWARE’s partner organisations, members, donors and volunteers, as well as participants in AWARE’s 2021 community discussions, a space to give voice to their various reactions. The Zoom meeting featured speakers from the Disabled People’s Association (DPA), Humanitarian Organization for Migration Economics (HOME), Sayoni, Project X, Daughters of Tomorrow (DOT) and Talk Your Heart Out (TYHO). In all, around 60 people attended the two-hour session, entitled “Thank You, Next”.

Thanking gender equality advocates

Starting off the town hall, AWARE’s Head of Research and Advocacy, Shailey Hingorani, reflected on the historic nature of the government’s review of women’s issues. She then discussed AWARE’s response: the submission of an Omnibus Report, as well as community discussions that resulted in seven policy wishlists. On behalf of AWARE, Shailey expressed a heartfelt thanks to all AWARE volunteers, discussion participants, partner organisations and everyone else involved in the advocacy efforts leading up to the White Paper. She added that there is still more to do, given that, for instance, the Paper’s framing of gender equality is still situated within heteronormative values: “None of us is free until all of us are free.”

AWARE Executive Director Corinna Lim shared her initial impressions of the Paper—that it represented a huge breakthrough for Singapore. Yet she noted that while the Paper went “broad”, covering a lot of different gendered issues, it did not go very deep. The White Paper is by no means the be-all and end-all of advocating for gender equality, Corinna reminded attendees; as Minister K. Shanmugam himself pointed out, it is just a starting point.

Positives and negatives

During the speaker segments, representatives from civil society organisations were asked which recommendations in the White Paper they felt the most positive about, what they felt was missing, what impact they foresaw the Paper having and what targets they thought the government should set out to achieve in the coming years.

Kaylee Kua, DOT’s Senior Manager of Programs and Operation, said DOT welcomed announcements such as the Tripartite Guidelines on Flexible Work Arrangements (FWAs), as well as divorce by mutual agreement (DMA). However, Kaylee added that the Paper’s recommendations on caregivers were insufficient as long-term measures for Singapore’s ageing population, a sentiment that several other speakers echoed.

Jaya Anil Kumar, HOME’s Senior Research and Advocacy Manager, noted that while migrant domestic workers (MDWs) carry out a substantial portion of caregiving duties in Singapore, they were excluded from the White Paper’s recommendations on caregiving. Namely, she highlighted issues such as a lack of compensation for MDWs when they are injured during their work, as well as the lack of legislation for 24-hour rest days. Jaya added that MDWs need the right to switch employers, given that their work permits are tied to their current employer. She also brought up the importance of official personnel being sensitive to MDWs’ needs and circumstances when MDWs report abuse, especially abuse experienced in their employers’ homes.

Vivienne Wee, a former family caregiver and one of AWARE’s founding members, also discussed the caregiving aspects of the White Paper, observing that it did not recommend any new policy on the subject. Vivienne also commented that the increase to the Home Caregiving Grant proposed by the Paper (depending on beneficiaries’ income levels, the Grant will either be raised from $200 to $250 or $400 per month) is too small an amount.

Chirag Agarwal, TYHO’s co-founder and an AWARE volunteer, discussed the Paper’s title and why the term “Women’s Development” was used rather than gender equality. He shared that he was most excited by the “Mindset Shifts” section of the Paper, which he saw as a positive sign, specifically the recommendation to address negative stereotypes such as the expectation for men to be breadwinners. However, he added that the Paper could have gone further by addressing the issue of toxic masculinity. Chirag named several contexts in which this could be done, from National Service (NS) to social norms in boys’ schools.

Max Soh, DPA’s Advocacy Executive, said that the Paper lacked references to disabled people overall. For example, while some groups have cheered the announcement that TAFEP guidelines will be enshrined into an anti-discrimination law, the lack of clarity on what constitutes fair or unfair treatment is a worry for the disabled community. Max added that disabled women and girls experience violence against women (VAW) at a much higher rate than the non-disabled, and that this, along with the various systemic realities disabled women and girls face surrounding such higher rates, was not given enough attention in the White Paper’s section on VAW.

Vanessa Ho, Project X’s Executive Director, expressed that while she was glad to see sections on VAW and mindset shifts, they still left sex workers and nightlife industries unacknowledged. Vanessa added that it remains challenging for sex workers to report threats and harassment to the police.

Tan Joo Hymn, Programme Director for AWARE’s Birds & Bees, focused on the VAW section as well, specifically the action on promoting “values of respect and safety through education”. Overall, she highlighted several areas that were missing from the Paper’s recommendations on sex education: The role of parents and the training of teachers are both not mentioned, nor are there meaningful mentions of consent education. Additionally, Joo Hymn added that the general emphasis on sex education seems to be on protecting one’s self, without discussions of active bystanders or perpetrators.

Jean Chong, Sayoni’s co-founder, also expressed thoughts on where the White Paper could be improved with regards to sex education. She elaborated that the ability for marginalised groups such as LBTQ women to even be a part of the conversation was limited, revealing biases that were inherent to the consultation process overall.

Further discussion

In discussion sections between speaker segments, attendees asked about various topics, ranging from the practical value of women’s representation in the workplace to how civil society organisations collaborate on advocacy.

Regarding representation in the workplace, Wynthia Goh—the Head of NEXT Digital at NCS, as well as an AWARE board member—stated that mere representation alone is insufficient for a mindset shift at the workplace, and that we need to go deeper, towards new policies and norms.

Speakers also reflected on how civil society organisations work together, turning the conversation towards post-White Paper efforts. Jaya explained how HOME and its partners typically identify a topic that resonates for multiple organisations, after which they work on joint statements, research papers and/or events, and take actions on shared values.

Corinna added that as a result of the White Paper, new groups and joint advocacy projects could emerge in the future.