gender equality in education singapore

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Globally, some progress on women’s rights has been achieved. In Singapore, 0.1% of women aged 20–24 years old who were married or in a union before age 18. As of February 2024, 29.3% of seats in parliament were held by women.

However, work still needs to be done in Singapore to achieve gender equality. In 2018, 2.4% of women aged 15-49 years reported that they had been subject to physical and/or sexual violence by a current or former intimate partner in the previous 12 months.

As of Dec-20, only 36.9% of indicators needed to monitor the SDGs from a gender perspective were available, with gaps in key areas, in particular: unpaid care and domestic work and key labour market indicators, such as the gender pay gap. In addition, many areas – such as gender and poverty, physical and sexual harassment, women’s access to assets (including land), and gender and the environment – lack comparable methodologies for reguar monitoring. Closing these gender data gaps is essential for achieving gender-related SDG commitments in Singapore.

Gender data gaps and country performance

For this score, we use the 72 gender-specific SDG indicators in the Women Count Data Hub’s SDG Dashboard for the 193 UN Member States. For each indicator, we calculate the 33rd and 66th percentiles of the distribution and, based on those two values, countries are classified as belonging to high performance, medium performance and low performance categories. For more details, see the methodological note and the article “We now have more gender-related SDG data than ever, but is it enough?”

• Low performance
• Medium performance
• High performance
• Missing data

Country score - Singapore

Average region score - asia, inclusive development, shared prosperity and decent work, 1.1.1 employed population below international poverty line. age 15+., 1.3.1 proportion of population above statutory pensionable age receiving a pension., 8.5.2 unemployment rate. age 15+., social protection, poverty and freedom from violence, stigma & stereotypes, 1.3.1 proportion of mothers with newborns receiving maternity cash benefit., 2.1.2 prevalence of severe food insecurity in the adult population (%)., 3.1.1 maternal mortality ratio (per 100,000 live births)., 3.7.2 adolescent birth rate (per 1,000 women aged 15-19 years)., literacy rate, age 15+., rate of out of school children. primary and lower secondary education., 5.2.1 proportion of ever-partnered women and girls subjected to physical and/or sexual violence by a current or former intimate partner in the previous 12 months. age 15-49., 5.3.1 proportion of women aged 20-24 years who were married or in a union before age 18 (%), before age 15. before age 18., 5.4.1 proportion of time spent on unpaid domestic chores and care work. all locations., political participation, accountability and gender-responsive institutions, 5.1.1 legal frameworks that promote, enforce and monitor gender equality (percentage of achievement, 0 - 100), area 1: overarching legal frameworks and public life, area 2: violence against women, area 3: employment and economic benefits, area 4: marriage and family, proportion of seats held by women in national parliaments (% of total number of seats), proportion of elected seats held by women in deliberative bodies of local government, proportion of women in managerial positions, proportion of women in senior and middle management positions, 5.c.1 proportion of countries with systems to track and make public allocations for gender equality and women's empowerment., environmental, environmental conservation, protection and rehabilitation, 3.9.1 age-standardized mortality rate attributed to household air pollution (deaths per 100,000 population)., 6.1.1 proportion of population using safely managed drinking water services, by urban/rural., 7.1.2 proportion of population with primary reliance on clean fuels and technology., gender-specific indicators.

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Singapore ranked 8th in world for low gender inequality; new report charts women’s development

SINGAPORE – Significant strides have been made over the past few years to improve gender equality in Singapore, with more female representation in the workplace and in leadership roles.

Singapore ranked eighth worldwide out of 166 countries and first in the Asia-Pacific for having a low level of gender inequality in the most recent United Nations Gender Inequality Index, released in March. The Republic ranked seventh in the previous index, in 2021.  

This was highlighted in a new report charting the progress of women’s development – the first since the White Paper on Singapore Women’s Development was published in 2022 – by the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) on May 10. The report will be published annually.

In the two years since the White Paper was published, the report said, Singapore has made further progress in areas such as equal opportunities in the workplace, providing greater caregiver support and strengthening protection against violence and online harms.

“Women’s participation in the labour force remains on the uptrend and women are increasingly represented in traditionally male-dominated occupations such as science, technology, engineering and mathematics, as well as in leadership roles,” it added.

Resident employment rates among women aged 25 to 64 improved over the past decade, increasing from 69.2 per cent in 2013 to 76.6 per cent in 2023. The figure for men in the same age group has been constant at about 89 per cent.

The gap between male and female employment narrowed to a difference of 12.4 percentage points.

More women also took on roles in professional, managerial, executive and technician occupations, growing from 42.3 per cent in 2013 to 46.7 per cent in 2023.

The unadjusted gender pay gap for full-time resident employees aged 25 to 54 narrowed from 16.3 per cent in 2018 to 14.3 per cent in 2023. This is calculated as a straightforward percentage difference between each gender’s average pay.

When comparing men and women with similar characteristics in age, education and occupation, the adjusted gender pay gap was 6 per cent in 2023.

This is down from 6.7 per cent in 2018. 

The adjusted gender pay gap reflects unmeasured characteristics, like differences in the effects of parenthood and caregiving responsibilities, which women tend to shoulder more than men.

People’s Action Party Women’s Wing chairwoman Sim Ann said that with more women participating in the workforce, the challenges of juggling different roles – as employee, mother, wife and caregiver – will be experienced more widely among women.

She said: “We care about the lived experiences of women, even as Singapore turns in a good performance on measures of gender equality.”

Promoting mental health and well-being among Singaporean women is also important – a recent survey by the PAP Women’s Wing and NTUC U Women and Family found that only 21.8 per cent of female respondents prioritise their well-being in their life choices.

As the demands on caregivers grow due to Singapore’s ageing society, financial support is available to defray long-term caregiving costs.

This includes the Home Caregiving Grant, which was increased in 2023 to $400 a month from $200 previously, with more help provided to eligible lower-income households. The number of beneficiaries has increased since the scheme started in 2019, with about 44,000 individuals receiving the grant in 2023.

Violence against women

MSF said in the report that strategies have been implemented to address violence and safeguard women across various fronts – homes, schools, workplaces and in public. “Moving forward, efforts to bolster safety measures will continue and evolve across multiple domains,” it said. Nevertheless, sexual and hurt offences against women still occur, it said.

The number of female victims of rape increased from 4.8 per 100,000 in 2013 to 15 per 100,000 in 2022. The number of female victims of outrage of modesty remained relatively stable over the same period, with 58.4 victims per 100,000 in 2022.

Through legislation and enforcement, the Government continues to take seriously any incident of sexual violence against women, including rape and outrage of modesty, MSF said. 

Some of the recent changes in legislation to champion the protection of victims include raising the minimum imprisonment term for outrage of modesty from two to three years in 2022, and introducing a new sentencing option in 2024 to allow serial serious sex offenders to be detained until they do not pose a threat to public safety.

The Women’s Charter was also amended in 2023 to empower family violence victims to better protect themselves, strengthen the Government’s ability to intervene in family violence cases, and raise penalties for offenders.

For example, the amendments allow victims to apply for orders to disallow the perpetrator to remain in areas frequented by the victim, and prohibit him from communicating with the victim.

The report noted that online harms have emerged as a new form of threat to the safety of women. A 2023 survey by non-profit organisation SG Her Empowerment (SHE) showed that 22 per cent of female youth reported experiencing sexual harassment online, compared with 12 per cent of their male counterparts.

The Government introduced a suite of legislative measures to deal with harmful online content and behaviour, including that which is targeted at women and girls, MSF said in the report. 

The Online Criminal Harms Act was passed in 2023 to better protect Singapore users of online platforms from criminal activities like the communication of voyeuristic materials and online child exploitation.

A Code of Practice for Online Safety was also introduced in July 2023 to require designated social media services to put in place measures to minimise Singapore online users’ exposure to harmful online content, including sexual or cyber-bullying content.

A resource package has been developed to help professionals identify inappropriate behaviours early and prevent youth sexual offending. The Government aims to train half of all school and community counsellors by end-2024 in using the resources, and the remaining half by end-2025.

MSF said all Singaporeans also have “a role to reinforce a culture of safety and respect through their everyday actions and habits”.

It said: “Men and women can actively speak out against disrespect and objectification of women. Together, we can create an environment where our women and girls feel safe and respected.”

More work lies ahead

Although efforts to uplift and support women have been encouraging, there is still a long way to go, said women’s organisations. 

SHE’s chairwoman Stefanie Yuen Thio said mindsets need to change, so that men and women are not entrenched in traditional gender stereotypes. 

There is still a preference for promoting an “ambitious and assertive” individual over a “caring and nurturing” one, with people identifying the former as male, according to a recent social experiment by SHE.

Ms Yuen Thio said: “As mindsets underpin societal changes, we must change them if we are to overturn the biases which impact women at home, work and in society.”

Chief executive of Singapore Council of Women’s Organisations Koh Yan Ping told The Straits Times that gaps in gender equality still exist in the leadership representation of women.

While the number of women sitting on the boards of the top 100 Singapore Exchange-listed companies has increased, it is not very significant, and progress is still slow, she said.

“Although setting targets is an important move and we are seeing the numbers move, we shouldn’t be happy to say that we have achieved the target and therefore have reached the level where we think there is enough women representation,” she said.

Violence against women remains a concern and an urgent area of work, notwithstanding tougher criminal penalties and laws, Ms Yuen Thio said. The increasing objectification of women online, fuelled by social media, and the cloak of anonymity that online platforms provide perpetrators further exacerbate the issue, she said.

She said developments in generative artificial intelligence also increase the problem – more than 90 per cent of deepfake porn videos are of women. 

“There’s a lot to do, but by working together – women and male allies – focusing on real actions we all can take, we can make a more equitable society for everyone, women and men,” she said.

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Gender equality review: Standardised sexuality education should be taught at post-secondary level, say students

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SINGAPORE — Even though sexuality education is taught in secondary schools and junior colleges, some students hope to see a standardised curriculum broadened to post-secondary educational institutions to build a culture of mutual respect among students, especially in the wake of several sexual misconduct cases.

Some tertiary students hope to see a standardised curriculum dealing with sexuality at the post-secondary level.

• The session is part of a governmental review on gender equality here
• Students said sexuality education is inconsistent across levels and schools
• They wanted to learn more about how the legal system deals with sexual offences
• Some of these issues will be addressed in the refreshed Character and Citizen Education, said Ms Sun Xueling
• MOE will work with schools to ensure greater consistency in the curriculum

These are some of the comments raised on Monday (Dec 21) by 100 students across the universities, polytechnics and the Institute of Technical Education (ITE) during the first of three dialogue sessions organised by the National Youth Council (NYC) as part of a governmental review on gender equality in Singapore.

Their comments come on the heels of a wave of sexual misconduct cases at the universities here, the most recent one being a National University of Singapore (NUS) political science professor who was sacked for sexually harassing a student .

Six national-level conversations have already been organised as part of the review, which was launched by the Government in October and is looking at the issues affecting women in Singapore.

The feedback received from the dialogues will culminate in a White Paper that will be delivered in Parliament in the first half of next year.

BROADER SEX ED CURRICULUM

First introduced in 2000, the Ministry of Education’s (MOE) sexuality education curriculum is taught at the primary, secondary and junior college levels.

It touches on topics like how to build healthy relationships based on respect and love, protection against sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and how to manage peer influence.

From next year, sexuality education lessons at the secondary school level will be refreshed to teach students how to protect themselves from crimes such as cyber flashing and voyeurism, among other things, CNA reported.

Some universities here, such as NUS, Nanyang Technological University and Singapore Management University, have introduced modules on sexual consent and respect on campus, but the curriculum is not standardised across all Institutes of Higher Learning (IHLs).

Students present at Monday’s dialogue said sexuality education should continue to be addressed at the tertiary level given that many recent cases of voyeurism and sexual misconduct that have made headlines took place at the IHLs.

Their comments were conveyed to reporters by facilitators from the NYC after the discussions as the breakout dialogue sessions were not open to the media.

The students called for consistency in how sexuality education is taught as based on their experience, some institutions may not follow the curriculum to a tee and so what is taught differs from school to school.

They also wanted to know more about how the legal system deals with cases of sexual misconduct to better protect themselves should they become victims of harassment.

Responding to the feedback, Minister of State for Education Sun Xueling, who was present at the dialogue, said many of the issues raised will be addressed in the refreshed Character and Citizen Education (CCE) curriculum to be rolled out from next year.

The refreshed CCE curriculum will teach students how to deal with challenging situations such as online grooming, sexual harassment and abuse, said Ms Sun, who is one of the political office holders leading the review.

Students will be taught to understand the social and emotional impact of such behaviours and the potential legal consequences of performing such acts.

Acknowledging the feedback given by students, Ms Sun said MOE will work with the schools and IHLs to “ensure that there is alignment across institutions” on sexuality education.

MOE will work closely with the IHLs to ensure greater standardisation on consent and respect modules, and see if resources can be shared across institutions, she added.

DO AWAY WITH GENDER STEREOTYPES

Students also said that more can be done in schools to reduce gender stereotypes, especially when it comes to informing students about the career pathways that are available to them.

For example, many students said that gender stereotypes are encoded in certain professions, with jobs like nursing being seen as a woman’s job and others like shipping and computer science being male-dominated.

These messages come at a young age, they added, through the subjects that are taught in single-gendered schools.

For instance, boys’ schools are usually offered design and technology as a subject while home economics is usually taught in girls’ schools.

In her reply, Ms Sun said topics on gender roles and gender stereotypes will feature in the refreshed CCE curriculum.

This is so that “students know the importance of valuing one’s own abilities, strengths and talents, regardless of gender”.

Students will also be able to access more resources with a balanced representation of genders across careers.

“This is to address and challenge the possible mental models (on gender stereotypes),” said Ms Sun, and encourage students to explore a variety of education and career pathways.

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In response to the national gender equality review, AWARE launches historic omnibus report with 88 recommendations to remove barriers at all stages of women’s lives

July 29th, 2021 | Children and Young People , Employment and Labour Rights , Family and Divorce , Gender-based Violence , LGBTQ , Migration and Trafficking , Muslim Women's Rights , News , Older People and Caregiving , Poverty and Inequality , Press Release , TFSV , Women in Leadership , Workplace Harassment

This post was originally published as a press release on 29 July 2021.

29 July 2021 – Implement comprehensive sexuality education covering consent, violence and gender roles in all schools in Singapore. Place a legal obligation on employers to address workplace harassment. Impose a temporary, progressive gender quota on boards of publicly listed companies. Introduce a support grant for family caregivers and review care policies to be gender-neutral. Establish a Code of Practice that sets out the minimum standards of service and support to victim-survivors of sexual violence, to counter current inconsistencies in their experiences.

These are some of the proposals made by gender-equality group AWARE in a comprehensive 242-page omnibus report, titled “An Omnibus on Gender Equality” , released today. A culmination of 36 years of gender research and advocacy, the report brings together 88 of AWARE’s recommendations on issues faced by women over their life course, from youth to employment, motherhood, caregiving and retirement. It forms the second part of the organisation’s two-pronged output towards the government’s 2021 review of gender equality—the first being a series of policy wishlists generated by various communities brought together by AWARE, published earlier this month.

“Home Affairs and Law Minister K Shanmugam said last September that gender equality should be ‘imprinted deeply into our collective consciousness’, so that every child in Singapore will grow up imbibing it,” said AWARE Executive Director Corinna Lim. “We could not agree more. This omnibus report is the fullest picture to date of the state of gender equality in Singapore: both a snapshot of the current landscape, and a roadmap for societal progress. Following this blueprint for policy change and public education will, we believe, lead to the fundamental mindset shift that both AWARE and the government are seeking.”

Issues tackled in the omnibus report are: (i) women, work and care, including the gender pay gap and female representation in the labour market; (ii) supporting older women, including ageing women’s retirement adequacy; (iii) gender-based and other forms of discrimination, including discrimination against pregnant women, single parents, disabled women, domestic workers, LGBTQ+ persons and Muslim women; (iv) violence against women, including campus sexual violence, workplace sexual violence and technology-facilitated sexual violence; (v) sexuality education; (vi) men and gender equality: (vii) national machinery to promote gender equality, such as the pledge and Constitution; (viii) the Women’s Charter and (ix) procedural issues in reporting sexual violence.

The arguments and policy recommendations are based on primary research data, the experiences of AWARE’s Women’s Care Centre and Sexual Assault Care Centre supporting vulnerable women, extensive secondary policy research and consultations with stakeholders such as academics, policymakers and other community organisations. The organisations HOME, Disabled People’s Association and Project X contributed respectively to sections on migrant domestic workers, disabled women and violence against sex workers.

“The report takes an expressly inclusive and intersectional approach, recognising that different marginalised women face different overlapping barriers,” said Ms Lim. “By the same token, we urge the government to immediately review all laws for gender neutrality. They should also conduct a thorough review of masculine norms that, when reinforced by such institutions as National Service and the media, place undue pressure on men.”

Besides the aforementioned proposals, AWARE reiterated its recommendations to update Singapore’s 60-year-old Women’s Charter, including changing its name to “Family Charter” to reflect the gender neutrality of its family law and anti-violence provisions. For migrant spouses, AWARE recommended that Long-Term Visit Passes be done away with and all qualifying migrant spouses of citizens be placed on the Long-Term Visit Pass Plus, which offers greater security, subsidies and work eligibility.

On the issue of sexual violence, AWARE suggested allowing all victim-survivors to undergo forensic medical examination, regardless of whether they file a police report. AWARE also suggested mandating that social media platforms remove non-consensually distributed materials within 24 hours after receiving a court order to do so. This would help slow down the spread of such materials online.

“With this national review, the government has set the stage for change on a grand scale,” said Ms Lim. “We hope that they will seriously consider these proposals in their White Paper and accelerate Singapore towards a future free of discrimination, violence and other forms of oppression. We want generations of women to look back at 2021 as a pivotal year for gender in this country.”

Read the “An Omnibus on Gender Equality” report here , and executive summary here .

Pages 28 and 35 of this report were updated on 29 July 2021.