Renaming the Women's Charter may send wrong signal on gender equality: Sun Xueling, Latest Singapore News - The New Paper
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Renaming the Women's Charter may send wrong signal on gender equality: Sun Xueling

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The playing field for women is not yet level with that for men, with women still lagging behind in earning power and career advancement.

And women are still more likely than men to be victims of family violence, said Minister of State for Social and Family Development (MSF) Sun Xueling.

Ms Sun said of calls to rename the Women's Charter: "Renaming it now may send the wrong signal that we have somehow arrived, and so the proposal to rename the Charter should be for the future, when the social status and expectations of men and women have indeed become equal."

She wrote this in a commentary published on Monday (Jan 17) in Petir.sg, the People's Action Party socio-political website. She said women have made much progress since the Women's Charter was enacted in 1961, but "we are not there yet".

On Jan 10, amendments to the Women's Charter, which institutionalises the rights and responsibilities of men and women in marriage and ensures the welfare and protection of women here, were passed in Parliament.

A key change is the introduction of divorce by mutual agreement, which allows couples to divorce without citing faults like unreasonable behaviour. It is meant to make the divorce process less acrimonious.

MPs Carrie Tan (Nee Soon GRC) and Louis Ng (Nee Soon GRC) had proposed renaming the Women's Charter the Family Charter. Mr Ng noted that the Women's Charter protects not only women and children, but married men too.

He said in Parliament on Jan 10: "There is a rising incorrect sentiment that the Women's Charter is bad for men.… Renaming the Women's Charter to accurately describe its scope can help defuse the anger."

In her Petir commentary, Ms Sun said she is of the view that the Women's Charter focuses on just outcomes, especially in divorce, and bears in mind the child's best interest.

She said: "We are also generally moving towards greater equality between the sexes, though this may not be immediately obvious."

In the amendments passed on Jan 10, the courts will have greater powers to better enforce child access orders, particularly when parents deny their former spouses time spent with the children after the divorce.

The new measures to boost the child access enforcement regime include mandatory counselling, compensation for denied access and, in extreme cases, a jail term and fine for parents who deny child access.

Ms Sun said that during her Meet the People Sessions, the people she met who faced problems getting access to their children post-divorce were almost always the fathers.

She added that the boost to the child access enforcement regime inadvertently helps one gender more than the other, but that does not make the Women's Charter gender-biased.

And when it comes to spousal maintenance, the reality on the ground is that it is more likely for the wife to give up her career for her family, and hence, women are more likely to be financially dependent after the divorce, she said.

Ms Sun also pointed out ex-wives are not granted maintenance as a matter of right. If the courts assess that she has enough financial resources, it can decide not to grant her any maintenance after the divorce.

She also noted that incapacitated husbands can also claim maintenance from their wives or ex-wives.

"Laws evolve in tandem with societal changes, and the Women's Charter is no exception," she said.

DIVORCES, SEPARATIONS, ANNULMENTSSUN XUELING