October 8, 2014 dessys

EVENT – Lunchtime Talk – Religion and Gender: Addressing Women’s Issues in the Muslim Context

In collaboration with the Association of Women for Action and Research (AWARE) Singapore, Bridging GAP is proud to present our next event, Religion and Gender: Addressing Women’s Issues in the Muslim Context.

Date: Thursday, October 16th, 2014

Time: 12:15pm – 2:00pm

Speakers: Sahar Pirzada and Filzah Sumartono, AWARE

Venue: Seminar Room 2-1, Level 2, Manasseh Meyer,

Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy

469C Bukit Timah Road, Singapore 259772

Description:

Muslim women around the world are caught in difficult situations due to cultural practices informed by patriarchy. Often times, these norms and practices are assumed to have stemmed from Islam as a religion. In reality, Islam grants women many rights and has empowered women with voice and agency since the time of the Prophet (S). This talk will explore some of the key issues facing Muslim women as they struggle to reclaim their religion as gender equitable. This talk will also discuss the project in Singapore that is working to address these issues.

The programme, titled Gender Equality IS Our Culture (GEC) builds women’s capacity in Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia to promote gender-equitable interpretations and expressions of culture to replace dominant power dynamics that use culture to legitimize women’s disempowerment. The interpretations that underlie religious laws must be addressed from multiple perspectives (theological and philosophical, historical and cultural, social and economic, legal and political). This will demonstrate that gender-equitable interpretations and expressions of culture are embedded in religious texts and observances, historical traditions and customary laws, as well as local beliefs and practices.

About the Speakers

Sahar Pirzada graduated from UC Berkeley with a BA in Development Studies, and is currently working at The Association of Women for Action and Research (AWARE) as a Training Institute Executive. Sahar conducts workshops at corporations on workplace discrimination, workplace sexual harassment, and inclusion, as well as youth programs in schools on sex education, healthy relationships, safe partying, media literacy, body image. She is the Program Coordinator for an UN-funded project called “Gender Equality IS Our Culture!” which works to reclaim culture as gender-equitable. Sahar is also a mentor with Muslim Expat Network (MEX).

Filzah Sumartono is a graduate from The University of Queensland, majoring in History. She has a keen interest in gender and Islam and recently joined AWARE as part of the Gender Equality IS Our Culture team.

RSVP • Admission is free. Please email rahman.sumaiya@nus.edu.sg to register.

Light refreshments will be provided.

May 4, 2014 dessys

EVENT: The Formulation and Implementation of Gender Oriented Policies Conference; “Women: Creating, Doing and Leading” Photo Competition; and Women in Fisheries Lecture

On March 14^th2014, an inaugural conference was held by the Bridging GAP (Gender and Policy) Student Committee on the issue of Gender-Oriented Policies as a part of the 10th Anniversary Celebrations of Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy’s. Samantha Hung, Senior Advisor to the Vice President of Administration and Corporate Management, Asian Development Bank (ADB) HQ Manila, was our keynote speaker. She opened the conference with the message of the importance of empowering women to achieve development of the region overall. She affirms the need for statistics and data, as well as deliberate institutional practices that account for gendered impact, as crucial aspects of project and policy decisions. She further emphasized the progress that has been made so far is promising but ultimately the task is not complete.

This was followed by the panel discussion, which brought together representatives with leadership positions in the private and public sector. Corinna Lim, Executive Director of AWARE Singapore, Trina Liang, President of Singapore Committee for UN Women and Theresa Devasahayam, Independent Consultant specializing in Gender, engaged in a lively discussion which brought insights from their experiences on the challenges and rewards in formulating and implementing gender oriented policies. The dialogue touched upon issues like the Family Law of Singapore, gender-targeted development projects, and issues that remain hard to resolve.

Panel Discussion on Gender-Oriented Policies in Singapore

A photo essay competition was also held on the theme of “Women: Creating, Doing, and Leading” outside the conference hall at Manasseh Meyer Building staircase, open for the vote by Conference speakers and attendees. The winners came from LKY School, University of Geneva, and Columbia University.

Participants vote on their choice of Photo Essay Submissions

Keynote Speaker Samantha Hung viewing the pictures on display from the “Women: Creating, Doing, Leading” Competition

Lastly, a Joint Workshop with the Environment Policy Committee titled Mainstreaming Gender into Fisheries Policy was held with guest speaker Angela Lentisco, from United Nations Environment Programme Bangkok, who taught participants to use a gendered project assessment through the case of a fishing community.

Instructor Angela Lentisco from UNEP Bangkok conducts a session co-organized by Environmental Group

“Women in Fisheries” session, co-organized with Environmental Group at LKYSPP

Participants pose for a Post-Laughter Yoga Session picture

(All Photographs are by Elena Ramirez)

Originally written for the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy Website here.

To get the latest updates like this, please follow us on twitter and like us on Facebook.

March 11, 2014 dessys

IWD Month Event: The Formulation and Implementation of Gender Oriented Policies

Bridging GAP, The Gender and Policy Group at LKYSPP was formed in 2012 to increase gender awareness within the community on a variety of gender policy issues. Having been exposed to the heterogeneity of gender dynamics (both opportunities and obstacles), we present to you this unique roundtable that aims to provide participants the opportunity to share challenges in being designing and implanting gendered policies and innovative ways to overcome those challenges in gendered policy making. The one-day conference, “The Formulation and Implementation of Gender Oriented Policies” will be held on Friday 14^th March 2014.

14 March 2014, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy

(Detailed version here)

Part of the LKY School’s 10^th Anniversary event series, this conference engages a multi-stakeholder forum, including policymakers, private sector, civil society organizations and academia and is divided in three sessions. The first session will be a dialogue on gender policies in Asia; followed by a networking session with LKYSPP students, policy makers, social media and professor and researchers from a diverse set of institutions in Singapore. The third session is jointly organized together with the Environmental Policy Student Committee on “Mainstreaming Gender Policies in Fisheries Projects”.

We are therefore pleased to warmly invite you to join us at this special event. Further details are provided below the jump:

October 29, 2013 dessys

Film Screening and Discussion: Girls Rising (2013)

A few weeks ago, the UN celebrated the third annual International Day of the Girl Child 2013 with a particular focus on Innovating for Girls’ Education. With such a fantastic year in women’s rights that ended with Malala Yousafzai’s Nobel Peace Prize Nomination, the momentum could not be any better for a FREE, Open to Public screening of Girl Rising (2013) film, presented with the help of partners Room to Read Singapore and NUS Law Faculty.

As many research has shown, educating girls are particularly important in breaking inter-generational cycles of poverty, however, girls still face various barriers to accessing education than boys do not face. This film, directed by Richard E. Robbins, tells the story from the perspective of 9 very brave young girls who are determined, against all odds to achieve their dream to learn. This film will be nothing short of uplifting and also serves as a great platform for our discussion with Shelly Dee, Co-Leader of Room to Read Singapore, who will moderate a brief discussion session after the film. We hope to see you there!

PDF HERE

Trailer:

For more information. contact us via twitter or through email.

July 18, 2013 mgarzaag

We Need Real Solutions, Not Fairytales II

Image courtesy of Joshua Chiang

In Part 2 of this article, Nurhidayah Hassan talks about the gender bias inherent in Singapore’s family policies. To read Part 1, click here.

By Nurhidayah Hassan

Gender Equality and Fertility: It’s Not Just About Women

In Singapore, and many developed economies, it is not unusual for women to delay marriage and babies to pursue their career goals. Even after they tie the knot, many women wait for a couple of years before they start a family. They usually stop at one child, citing reasons such as the cost of raising kids and career goals as the driving forces behind their decisions. The latest figures by the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) of Singapore (ICA publishes the Singapore Demographics Bulletin on a monthly basis) show that over 60 percent of babies were born to women aged 30 and above. Out of this number, close to 40 percent of babies are born to women 35 and above.

The nuclear family institution retains its importance in Singapore. A recent survey by the National Population and Talent Division (NPTD) showed that 83 percent of Singaporeans want to get married. The same survey reports that 80 percent of respondents want to have two or more children. Still, these desires do not translate to more babies. According to 2012 figures from NPTD, Singapore’s fertility rates have remained persistently low, at 1.24 births per women, below the replacement rates of 2.1 births. What is causing this gap between desire and reality? Here’s a clue. The nuclear family unit is ultimately couched in patriarchy. It maintains the ideal roles of men and women in society which emphasises women’s roles as child bearers and men as breadwinners. It is no surprise that Singaporean women, who have invested so many years building their careers, are unwilling to give up their success in order to fulfill their reproductive duties.

Having failed to understand this fundamental concern, the government continues to enhance its series of measures to boost the country’s fertility rate – business as usual. Under the Marriage and Parenthood package (which started in 2001), future and current parents can look forward to incentives like baby bonuses, parenthood tax rebates and childcare subsidies. This entire goodie bag is costing the government a whopping SGD 2 billion this year, an increase from SGD 1.6 billion in 2012. Billions of taxpayers’ money has been spent, yet its fertility rates remain low. Someone needs to tell our policymakers that their policies are clearly failing. Besides being economically unsustainable, these solutions do not address the issue’s root problem.

For Hans Rosling, a brilliant Swedish academic and internationally recognised speaker, the solution was clear – the men. During his Singapore visit three years ago, Professor Rosling did not mince his words: “Singapore fathers are the real losers when they abdicate child-rearing responsibilities to mothers. And the state, too, becomes much poorer for it.” His native country, Sweden, boasts one of the most generous family policies in the world. Swedish parents are given 480 days of leave per child, with 420 of these days paid up to 80 percent by the government. The couple decides how to divide the leave days, but there is a catch. It is compulsory for fathers to take at least two months paternity leave for them to enjoy the full line of benefits, like subsidies and allowances. It is worth noting that Sweden’s fertility rate is 1.90 (up from 1.76 in 2004), one of the highest figures in Europe.

If the Singapore government were serious about overcoming its demographics challenges, it has to start addressing the gender bias in its family policies. While women receive 16 weeks of maternity leave, men are entitled to one week of paternity leave. That is simply pathetic. It is no rocket science that fathers play an equally important role in childrearing, so why not have equal parenting leave? Does the government doubt the diaper-changing capabilities of Singaporean men? In her wildly popular book “Lean In”, Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook, urged women to not only take on more leaderships roles, but like Rosling, she also highlighted the role of men in the gender equality equation: “…the single most important career decision that a woman makes is whether she will have a life partner and who that partner is…When it comes time to settle down, find someone who wants an equal partner… Someone who values fairness and expects, or even better, wants to do his share in the home.” Instead of using fear tactics (as evident in The Singaporean Fairytale website) to scare women into making babies or offer monetary incentives, doesn’t it make more sense to encourage women to marry men who want to have an equal share of childcare duties? After all, it takes two to tango.

If you are beginning to feel like all of the above sound like the usual feminist diatribe, you are wrong. Men have come out to voice their burning desire to spend more time at home. In a recent Bloomberg BusinessWeek issue, the cover article, “Lean Out: Working Dads Want Family Time, Too” talks about the work-life dilemma that a new generation of dads are facing, and how they need to be included in the equality conversation: “Men are prisoners of all that money and power they spend their lives amassing because it’s what’s expected of them.” This new breed of “Alpha Dads” are pushing for family-friendly work policies and are willing to challenge norms for the sake of spending more time with their kids. More and more men choose to stay home and take care of the kids while their wives bring home the bacon. When my husband announced to our friends, in all manner of seriousness, that he wants to be a fulltime dad once I finish graduate school, maniacal laughter erupted from the room. In a patriarchal society like Singapore, “stay-at-home dad” remains a dirty term.

As such, social norms and the gender division of labour at home and at the workplace can only change through a paradigm shift in our family policies. While parents and future parents welcome the host of incentives from our government, it would be even more useful if both women and men are given equal access to childcare benefits. If the burden of childcare continues to fall squarely on women’s shoulders, it is no surprise that the Singaporean fairytale will not have a happy ending. Instead of spinning tales, I urge our policymakers to delve deeper into the fertility issue and find real and sustainable solutions that will help our society move forward, not take ten steps back.

Nurhidayah Hassan is currently a candidate for Master in Public Policy at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, NUS. She graduated from UniSIM with a Bachelor’s Degree in English and Sociology. She is a member of Bridging GAP and yearns for a just society where individuals are not discriminated by the virtue of their gender, sexual orientation, religion, class nor ethnicity. Above all, she hopes that her years of investment in academia would allow her to join the struggle in making the world a more equal place for her children and their generation.

nurhidayah@nus.edu.sg

June 19, 2013 mgarzaag

We Need Real Solutions, Not Fairytales

This is the first part of a two-part article by Nurhidayah Hassan nurhidayah@nus.edu.sg

The latest effort in getting Singaporeans to make more babies takes on an interesting form – a website showcasing a series of “fairytales” subtly warning its citizens to make babies, or else. Unsurprisingly, this government-backed project echoes the state’s usual brand of paternalism. The website leverages on pop culture humour and eye-catching illustrations targeting Singaporeans, especially women, to remind them of their roles in society. In refusing to address the stark gender bias in their policies and social campaigns, Singapore policymakers would find that their fairytales would not have happy endings.

When the website, The Singaporean Fairytale was published a few months ago, I had expected an online furore – girls and women up in arms, zealous online protests, government-slamming tirades on Facebook, bra-burning demonstrations….but all I got were cricket sounds. Sure, some of my FB counterparts (three to be exact) had expressed utter disgust at the vile rhetoric underlying this government-endorsed website, but other than that, the unified mortification I was waiting for never happened. Funded by the National Family Council, a consultative body under the purview of the Ministry of Social and Family Development, the website was the brainchild of four undergraduates from the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication, NTU. Aside from being genuinely concerned, I was curious. Have Singaporeans readily accepted the marriage, family and fertility rhetorics so clumsily conceived by the government? For decades, the government has been propagating a multitude of pro-family campaigns, yet none has claimed success. Perhaps if more women, men, mothers and fathers speak up, the government would finally hatch real solutions that can help the country overcome its demographics challenge.

Fairytales: Singapore Style

I will not argue that the Singaporean Fairytale website boasts illustrations which are definitely pleasing to the eye. But beyond that, there is nary a redeeming quality to rave about. Within this series of fairytales there is Snow White. Her enviable life is unequivocally enriched by her seven children. And next comes Golden Goose, who cannot seem to lay anymore eggs because “her egg-making device was rusty and old”. Also not forgetting the Fairy Godmother, a jolly, single old lady who has nothing to rejoice about but her precious cats and designer bags. If these story lines tickle your fancy, there are 12 more “fairytales” parodied on this incredulous website.

Besides mutilating classic fairy tales well-loved by many of us, the unapologetic chauvinistic overtones signal a desperate attempt by the government in addressing the younger generation, “educating” them on the fertility issue in Singapore. More than half of the featured “fairytales” are directed at women, reminding them of their national responsibility in improving the country’s fertility rate. While I cannot speak on behalf of other Singaporean women, I know this has to stop. Do not get me wrong. I am not a man-eating feminist. I am not even anti-government (on good days). In fact, I am a mother, a diehard Hugh Jackman fan and like many women I know, I dream about having it all. But, please, leave my womb alone. It is not national property.

As a public policy student, I understand many of the socio-economic challenges that Singapore, as an ageing society, faces. Amongst a wide range of issues, an ageing population puts a strain on the country’s resources. With a shrinking proportion of youths, the working population will not be able to sufficiently support the elderly. The government’s social policies have addressed these issues by raising retirement age, subsidising job training and by providing greater social safety nets for the elderly. However, the double whammy of increased life expectancy and declining birth rate has sent the government into a whirlwind of panic.

Manifesting this panic, the government recently released a contentious “Population White Paper”, detailing the government’s plans to increase the rate of immigrants at 15,000 to 25,000 per year, to overcome the issue of declining population. At this heightened pace, the proportion of immigrants will make up almost half the population. This revelation triggered waves of anxiety across the country. In 2012, Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore’s founding father, declared publicly that, “Like it or not, unless we have more babies, we need to accept immigrants.” His words sounded like a typical useless threat I would bestow upon my son, “Like it or not, unless you finish your vegetables, the Bogeyman will come.” Paternalistic and patronising, in true Singapore fashion.

The government’s pleas in getting its citizens to reproduce started since the 1980s. Our parents would remember contrived slogans like, “Have Three or More Children If You Can Afford It”, “Why Build Your Career Alone? Family Life Helps” adorned on posters and advertisements. Over the years, these pro-family campaigns took on varying tones and appear to be trial-and-error efforts. The latest offering in the form of “The Singaporean Fairytale” certainly looks like a last ditch attempt at getting Singaporeans, in particular, the women, to prioritise having families before their baby-making devices rot.