S'pore top Asian nation for gender equality

WOMEN and men in Singapore are a little more equal now, compared with other countries. This is according to the latest Human Development Report by the United Nations.



Reproductive health looks at maternal mortality and rates of teenage pregnancies, and empowerment takes into account parliamentary seats held by women and how they figure in higher education.


Laura Hwang, Singapore's representative for Women's Rights to the ASEAN Commission on the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Women and Children, pegged the improvement to there being more women with least secondary education.


She said: "This translates to women being better equipped for employment in higher wage earning capacity and the greater labour force contribution reflects this as there is a 3 per cent rise in the labour force participation rate."



Milorad Kovacevic, Chief Statistician at the Human Development Report Office, said that 25.3 per cent of parliamentary seats in Singapore are held by women.

This is slightly lower than the average for all countries in the very high HDI group (26.5 per cent) but higher than in the East Asia and the Pacific region (18.7 per cent).

Lawyer Malathi Das, president of the Singapore Council of Women's Organisations, said it was heartening to see improvements in areas such as life expectancy, women judges and better workforce participation.

She said: "Some areas where we can improve can include measures to support and keep women in the workforce, ensuring non-economic work such as caregiving and homemaking are valued, and aligning work and school hours so working parents can better share caregiving roles."


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