Lecture 11: Gender Issues in Singapore

1. SC2220: Gender StudiesLecture 11: Gender Issues in Singapore Eric C. Thompson Semester 2, 2010/2011

2. Where We Have Been… History of Gender Studies Sex/Gender Distinction Becoming Male or Female Gender socialization; paths to learning gender. Gender Systems Masculinity/Femininity Gender as systems of beliefs and behaviors

3. Where We Are Going… Gender in Popular Culture Gender in Advertising Popular Culture Gender in Social Relations Gender and Power Gender and Work Gender, Here and Now Gender in Singapore YOU ARE HERE

4. Gendered Issues in Singapore Is Singapore a “Patriarchal Society”? National Service: What is at stake? The “Flight from Marriage” Importing Female Labor Emergence of “Transnational Patriarchy”

6. Asian and “Confucian” Values

7. Patrilocal Residence & Patrilineal Inheritance

8. Men: Fathers and Husbands as “head-of-household” and primary provider; Eldest son as lineage head.

9. Women: Wives, Mothers and Obedient Daughters-in-Law; focused on domestic work.

11. Matrilineal Filial Piety? Is Filial Piety in Singapore matrilineally-skewed? Under the Maintenance of Parents Act (1995), parents are legally entitled to claim maintenance from their children. The Women’s Charter (1961) legally obligates husbands to (financially) maintain their wives during marriage and after divorce. Therefore, a husband is legally obligated to maintain his wife and she is obligated to maintain her parents; but no such reciprocal obligation exists (in which a woman is legally obligated toward her parents-in-law).

13. Generalized “male-biased” policies; but more powerful “human resource” policies that provide a lot of support for women (provided that they are Singaporean citizens… and especially if ‘highly educated’).

14. Confucian ideology of patrilocal, patrilineal ‘classic’ patriarchy; BUT… no longer (never was!) an agricultural society. (Disconnect between culture and economy.)

15. Substantial emergence of “transnational patriarchy” (foreign brides, not to mention maids!)

17. National Service as Rite of Passage Is National Service a Singaporean Male Initiation ritual? NS incorporates males into society. It marks a passage from boyhood to manhood. It gives men higher status and a stronger claim on society than women.

18. Gendered State Rule in Singapore Teo You Yenn, Sociology, NTU 2007 “Inequality for the Greater Good: Gendered State Rule in Singapore,” Critical Asian Studies 39(3):423-445 (2007) 2009 “Gender Disarmed: How Gendered Policies Produce Gender-Neutral Politics in Singapore,” Signs 34(3):533-557 2010 “Shaping the Singapore Family, Producing State and Society,” Economy and Society 39(3):337-359 Heng and Devan (1995) “State Fatherhood” Chan (2000) “The Status of Women in a Patriarchal State”

20. Until recently (2004), only male civil servants received benefits for spouses and chlidren.

21. Foreign maid levy tax relief only for married or divorced/widowed working women.

22. Special “working mother child relief.”

25. The gendered policies create a strong sense of “what it means to be Singaporean” (sense of Singaporean “uniqueness”).

26. Gendered policies produce degendered (and deracialized) “politics”…

28. Little or no impact on fertility. Many couples get married, but remain DINKs (double-income, no-kids).

29. Despite the incentives of HDB housing and other benefits, the intense pressures of living up to the “ideal” of Singaporean woman-hood plus the benefits of a professional career as a single, lead many highly-educated women to forgo marriage.

31. Importing Female Labor Foreign labor in Singapore is deeply gendered. Male migrant labor – in construction, shipping, etc. Female migrant labor: Foreign Domestic Workers Sex Workers Foreign Brides Unlike male migrant labor, female migrant labor “competes” in domains traditionally related to heterosexual marriage (domestic work, sex, reproduction).

33. Singaporean men, in large numbers, look to foreign brides as a means of maintaining “patriarchal privileges” (i.e. having a ‘traditional wife’).

35. The producers solicited the following as “typical comments” by Singaporean men: “Some Singaporean females are simply arrogant, especially those with high education levels.” “Singaporean women demand the 5C’s – condo, car, credit card, country club and cash.” “Foreigners make better wives, because they are more domesticated, less arrogant or materialistic.”

36. The Foreign Bride Option Source: Jones, Gavin W. and Hsui-hua Shen (2008) “International Marriage in East and Southeast Asia: Trends and Research Emphasis,” Citizenship Studies 12(1):9-25.

38. Example refers to specific experiences and conditions of Thai migrant wives… (but…)

39. Many of the general issues apply to other Foreign Brides in Singapore AND conditions in other “First World” countries (Japan, Taiwan, Europe, Australia, America, etc.) where wives are “imported”.

41. Traditionally in Thailand – men have gained status as monks (and in the military).

42. Women have been daughters and mothers.

43. Men “travel around” (paithaiw) gaining experience and fortune.

45. Men left their families and “married in” to their wife’s families.

46. Daughters (esp. youngest daughters) and their husbands inherited property from her parents.

47. The male “ideal” was that of monk and “nakleng” (men seen as extremely pious or extremely ‘rough’).

48. The female ideal was that of dutiful daughter and nurturing mother.**Debate between Keyes and Kirsch in American Ethnologist 1984-1985, as to whether this meant that women were “more attached” to the world and thus less pious, from a Thai Theravada Buddhist perspective.

50. Large numbers of women migrate to cities (esp. Bangkok) in search of the than samay (modern) self (Mills, 1999, Thai Women in the Global Laborforce).

51. Thai women mostly enter the bottom rung of the ‘global assembly line’… grueling hours, little pay.

52. Many enter into the sex trade (unpleasant work, but more flexible hours and much higher pay).

53. Seek to be “dutiful daughters” by remitting money to support parents and other relatives.

56. Men must display their ability to be providers.

57. Women display their willingness (and desire) to exit the sex trade and become “traditional wives”

58. Women seek to accelerate the marriage process; demonstrate that they are not only after money.

60. Thai women seek not only a financial provider but also the opportunity to live and work in a wealthy country.

62. Singaporean men (and their families) expect Thai women to be “daughters-in-law”

66. Traditionally, one woman (wife) provides sex, babies and domestic work for men (husband).

67. With commodification and specialization:

68. Wives (mothers) provide babies.

69. Maids provide domestic work.

70. Sex workers (prostitution; pornography) provide sexual services.

71. Of course, not always in all cases! But, this follows from the “logic” of commodification and specialization.

73. Patrilineal inheritance: Men (sons) inherit property; women do not.

74. Patrilocal residence: Women (wives) leave their natal families, live with their husband’s family (cut off from natal family and social network support).

75. Transnational Patriarchy maintained by –

76. Territorial state sovereignty: nation states control borders; create zones of relative wealth and relative deprivation (“First” and “Third” Worlds)

77. “Flexible citizenship” – Men from the First World can leverage citizenship (PR and other status) as a resource to negotiate a “patriarchal bargain” with Third World women.**First world women can and occasionally do leverage citizenship as well in relationships with Third world men (see cases in the Carribean; Allen 2007); but generally, women do not. Why? Refer to “sexual exchange theory”.

78. Gender Issues in Singapore There are many other gender issues in Singapore. What do you think are important gender issues not covered in this lecture? Please email or post to the Wiki! Next Week: Final Lecture “Gender and You!” Reflections on what we can get from Gender Studies Discussion of the final exam (Mugging Gender 101)