In a bid to boost the number of babies in Singapore, the Singapore government announced some, in my opinion, long-overdue changes.
First, the Constitution will be amended to give babies born to Singaporean women abroad an equal claim to citizenship as babies of Singaporean men abroad.
While I don’t think this measure will help increase the population a great deal, at the very least it tells Singaporean women that they are just as valued as citizens as Singaporean men. Seriously, that former ruling is so biased and it sent the message that children born to Singaporean women abroad are not worth as much as those born to Singaporean men. Naturally, these women would stay away from Singapore and never return.
Second, female civil servants will finally be able to receive equal work benefits as their male counterparts. Under the old ruling, medical benefits are granted to the spouse and children of male civil servants (frankly I hate the term “civil servants”. It’s so darn archaic!) but not to the women.
I always thought those two rules were ridiculous. It’s as if to say that Singaporean women are not as good as the men and that we should be penalised because of our gender. And frankly, I don’t feel valued as a citizen with such silly rulings.
Finally the government has awoken from its slumber, and realised that such patriarchal rules would only do Singapore in in the long run.
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