CONVENTION FOR THE ELIMINATION OF ALL FORMS OF DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WOMEN (CEDAW)

CONVENTION FOR THE ELIMINATION OF ALL FORMS OF DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WOMEN (CEDAW): 6.

Prof. Thio Li-ann asked the Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports (a) what steps have been taken to address the concerns expressed by the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, which oversees the Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), in its 2001 Concluding Observations on Singapore's Initial and Second Periodic Report; (b) what has been done to promote CEDAW principles to the public and private sector and to disseminate the Committee's Observations to Singaporeans at large; (c) whether the Government will consider withdrawing any of its reservations to CEDAW; and (d) whether it has adopted the recommendation of the Committee to study reforms in relation to Muslim personal law in other countries with similar legal traditions and, if so, what are the findings of such study.

The Minister of State for Community Development, Youth and Sports (Mrs Yu-Foo Yee Shoon) (for the Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports): Mr Speaker, Sir, Singapore is committed to the advancement and well-being of women. Following our presentation to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women in 2001, the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS), together with the Inter-Ministry Committee (IMC) on CEDAW, have been reviewing our policies, laws and services

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to meet the changing needs of society and our women.

These include:

(i) Amending our nationality law so that a Singaporean woman can transfer nationality to her child when she marries a foreigner and the child is born overseas. A Constitution (Amendment) Bill was passed on 19th April 2004.

(ii) Removing the quota on the intake of female medical students in 2003 to give men and women equal opportunity to read medicine at the National University of Singapore.

(iii) Addressing gender wage differentials by issuing a Tripartite Declaration, by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM), National Trade Unions Congress (NTUC) and Singapore National Employers Federation (SNEF), on Equal Remuneration for Men and Women Performing Work of Equal Value in November 2002. We also ratified the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention 100 on Equal Remuneration to signify our commitment to equal pay for equal work.

(iv) Encouraging equality in gender roles in the family through our parenthood programmes so that both men and women, fathers and mothers are able to harmonise work and family life. The measures include childcare leave for both parents, longer maternity leave and financial support for the family.

Regarding the Committee's concern about the low representation of women in politics and decision-making positions, we have seen some improvements. In 2004, 12% or 10 out of the 84 elected Members of Parliament were women and five out of the nine Nominated Members of Parliament (NMPs) were women. Following the May 2006 General Elections, 17 of the 85 MPs, or 20% of them,

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are women. And of the 17, four hold political office. Five out of nine NMPs are women.

In the public sector, as at January 2006, women constituted 56% of the civil service and formed 54% of the officers in the Division 1 and Superscale categories. As at February 2007, four out of 18 Permanent Secretaries are female and there are eight female Deputy Secretaries out of a total of 27 Deputy Secretaries.

The CEDAW reports and the Committee's Concluding Comments have been posted on the MCYS website for public information.

The reservations to CEDAW are to five Articles, namely:

(i) Articles 2 and 16, which require States Parties to take all appropriate means, including legislation, to modify or abolish existing laws, regulations, customs and practices that constitute discrimination against women;

(ii) Article 9, on the granting of equal rights with men to acquire, change or retain nationality;

(iii) Article 11, which requires States Parties to take steps to eliminate discrimination in employment; and

(iv) Article 29(1) which provides for disputes to be submitted to arbitration.

Singapore has studied the possibility of withdrawing the reservations and decided that it is necessary and important to retain them. For example, in recognition of our multi-racial and multi-religious society, the reservations on Articles 2 and 16 are needed to protect the rights of minorities in the practice of their personal and religious laws. Besides consulting

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MUIS, the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore, Syariah Court and the Registry of Muslim Marriages, consultations were also held with women's groups and Muslim women's groups.

Most combat vocations in the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) are open to women, such as in the areas of artillery, signals and air defence. However, Singapore has entered a reservation under Article 11(1) as women are excluded from a very small number of combat vocations, such as those which require considerable physical strength. Operational and safety considerations are also taken into account to safeguard the welfare of women and their unborn children from hazardous occupations.

Singapore's reservation to Article 29(1), which is expressly permitted by Article 29(2) of the Convention, was entered to maintain Singapore's right to its domestic policies.

With regard to the reservation on Article 9(2), the Singapore Constitution was amended in April 2004 to allow Singaporean women to transmit citizenship by descent to their foreign born children. We are currently reviewing this reservation.

The Muslim authorities have followed up on the Committee's recommendation to study Muslim personal law reforms in countries with similar legal traditions. Research is still on-going.

Mr Speaker, Sir, I like to also thank the Nominated MP, Prof. Thio, for moderating the CEDAW session with women's groups on 21st April 2007. Both the IMC members and participants had commended her for her professional and even-handed management of the queries and comments at the session.

Prof. Thio Li-ann (Nominated Member): Sir, I thank the Minister of State for her

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very detailed response. I would like to ask whether she thinks that the principles of CEDAW, which talk in terms of eliminating gender discrimination, should be incorporated into the educational curriculum, so that children from a young age can be taught not to adopt gender stereotypes.

Mrs Yu-Foo Yee Shoon: Mr Speaker, Sir, regarding the attitude of boys and girls, I am glad that gender stereotyping is not an issue in the school curriculum. I also understand that, today, boys and girls can choose any topic like home economics, design or technology courses. There is no discrimination.

Another very important factor is the home. Today, we have domestic assistants or helpers at home. We need to balance the role of the boys and girls at home. When preparing meals in the kitchen, for example, children should help each other irrespective of gender.

Besides this, my Ministry, through the Family Life Education and Lifeskills, which are key components in Civics and Moral Education, also encourage both husband and wife, father and mother, to share their parenting role in bringing up their children. I think the father's role at home is very important.

I understand that through the media, the newspapers and so on, we also try to ensure that a balanced image of both women and men is portrayed. The same treatment applies to all textbooks and education materials. For example, I understand that women are shown playing soccer and some publications show female MPs debating in Parliament, just like what we are doing now.

Sir, we will do our best to have a multi-pronged approach to avoid gender stereotyping.