UN CHARTER ON THE COMPLETE ELIMINATION OF ALL FORMS OF DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WOMEN (CEDAW) (Compliance with Article 10)

Mr Charles Chong asked the Acting Minister for Community Development and Sports (a) whether Singapore had registered any reservation to Article 10 of the UN Charter on the Complete Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) when it ratified the convention in October 1995; and (b) if not, is Singapore in compliance with Article 10 of CEDAW which provides women with equal rights as men in the field of education, including the study of medicine.

Assoc. Prof. Dr Yaacob Ibrahim: Sir, Singapore did not tender any reservation to Article 10 of UN CEDAW, as equal access to education is one of the cardinal principles in the Singapore education system. Women made up 52.5% of the local university population in the 2001 intake. But equal access to education does not mean that every student has a free choice as to the type of course he or she may pursue. It depends on the number of places available for each course, which depends on national needs and the cost of providing different courses.

The cost of training a medical student is five times higher than that for other disciplines in the university. It costs over $400,000 over five years to train a medical student, 80% of which is subsidised by the Government. This means a relatively higher investment by taxpayers in medical education compared to other disciplines. Hence, the Government has imposed a quota on the intake of female medical students wishing to study medicine in NUS as, comparatively, more female doctors tend to leave the workforce prematurely or switch to part-time work.

We do not regard this policy a violation of our obligations under the CEDAW, within the overall context of our health care and education systems in Singapore, as:

(i) There is no quota on the number of female doctors allowed to practise medicine in Singapore;

(ii) There are no discriminatory practices against female doctors in our health care organisations. Women doctors have equal opportunities to take up training opportunities and assume responsibilities for which they have the necessary qualifications and experience; and

(iii) We have to address a real and practical problem, ie, of ensuring Singaporeans have sufficient doctors to attend to their health care needs, bearing in mind the cost of medical education.

Nevertheless, Sir, the Remaking Singapore Committee has recommended that the quota on the female intake at NUS Medical School be lifted, and will be submitting its report to the Government early next year. The Ministry of Health would study and respond to its recommendations.

Mr Charles Chong: Sir, could the Minister confirm that there is no discrimination, that there is complete equal opportunity, and there is no discrimination by virtue of gender in the field of education? That was what my question was.

Assoc. Prof. Dr Yaacob Ibrahim: Sir, to the best of my knowledge, there is no such thing. Every child is given equal opportunity to access to the schools that we have in Singapore.

Mr Charles Chong: Mr Speaker, Sir, in view of the disagreement on the interpretation of Article 10 of CEDAW, would the Minister then consider referring the interpretation of Article 10 to arbitration as required by Article 29.1 of CEDAW?

Assoc. Prof. Dr Yaacob Ibrahim: Sir, we believe that we are not violating the principle of Article 10, for the reasons which I have given earlier, that the basis of our education system is equal access to all gender in Singapore. But yet at the same time we recognise that even if you are free to choose a course, it all depends on other factors. It is inevitable that some students who would be left out of some courses in which he or she may prefer. The inevitable fact is that because of the size of our country we need to maximise our human resources so that we can best serve the needs of all Singaporeans.

Dr Lily Neo: Mr Speaker, Sir, may I beg to differ with the Minister for Community Development and Sports, because actually the attrition rate for female doctors now is about the same as the male doctors, contrary to what he said earlier.

May I also ask the Minister whether it is correct to say that the National University of Singapore is the only highly ranked university in the world that deprives the entry of medical students on the basis of gender? Does this not hamper the vision of NUS as being a world-class university and does this not run contrary to the meritocratic system in Singapore?

Assoc. Prof. Dr Yaacob Ibrahim: Sir, I do not think in any way does this policy affect NUS in its aim to become a world-class institution. At the end of the day, I think we have to address the larger issue of how we maximise our resources, given the limited pool that we have.

Secondly, on her first question whether NUS is the only university that discriminates against women, I have no knowledge of that as far as other universities are concerned, Sir.

Mr Tan Soo Khoon: Sir, can I ask the Acting Minister why the decision as to whether we should reverse the policy of female intake into the medical course has to await the recommendations of the Remaking Singapore Committee? After all, when the decision to restrict the intake was taken years ago, I do not recall that it took a committee to make the decision. So surely Government is capable of making such a decision after so many pressing demands from Backbenchers over the years. Why do we now have to wait for a few months more for a committee to come to a decision?

Assoc. Prof. Dr Yaacob Ibrahim: Sir, we are not waiting for the Committee to submit the proposal. We understand that this has been raised by several Backbenchers. But the Remaking Singapore Committee has actually met people who are interested in this particular issue and gathered feedback and submitted the proposal to Government. They have built up a consensus and submitted to the Government for consideration.

Mr Charles Chong: Mr Speaker, Sir, I believe that the Sub-Committee had not only made its recommendations, it had also called a press conference and its recommendations were announced by Government. So what more have we got to wait for?

Assoc. Prof. Dr Yaacob Ibrahim: As I said earlier, the matter is under the Ministry of Health and I think they will study the proposal constructively and we will wait for their recommendations, Sir.

Dr Mohamad Maliki Bin Osman (Sembawang): Mr Speaker, Sir, I recognise what the Minister said about equal access to opportunities, but would not the issue of having quota for the female students in medical school mean that there is access, but based on gender? If it is based on gender, then would it not be discriminatory in itself because the gender becomes a factor in getting access to the medical school?

Assoc. Prof. Dr Yaacob Ibrahim: Sir, I would not disagree with the Member's interpretation. As it stands now, there is a selection process to ensure that we maintain a balance between the number of male doctors and female doctors that we have in our institution.