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Beyond good laws, society’s efforts needed to further women’s development: Shanmugam

2023-07-26 00:00:00.0 海峡时报-新加坡原网页

SINGAPORE - To facilitate women’s development, good laws are needed to design the framework for the kind of society Singaporeans want to live in, and to build shared norms of how to treat and respect women.

Home Affairs and Law Minister K. Shanmugam said, in his keynote speech at a conference titled Empowering Women Through Game-changing Legal Reforms, on Monday morning: “Women may face bias, stereotypes, obstacles, perceptions and practices which have formed over generations, in all societies. You are not going to change that overnight.”

So it is important to raise awareness of women’s issues, continually reflect on the way things are done, and to encourage the right mindsets to facilitate progress on women’s development issues, he said at the conference attended by social workers, lawyers and unionists, among others.

But what is harder to achieve, he added, is changing mindsets, and so there is a need to repeatedly discuss the issues to bring about change.

The conference was organised by non-profit group SG Her Empowerment, in partnership with the Community Development Council and the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) U Women and Family.

Over the years, there have been a series of legislative changes to promote and strengthen women’s rights, Mr Shanmugam noted.

For example, the Protection from Harassment Act and the Penal Code were amended in 2019 to better protect victims of intimate partner violence, such as girlfriends.

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This is because the unmarried did not qualify for protection against family violence under the Women’s Charter, he said.

In 2020, Singapore abolished marital immunity for rape in the Penal Code.

Mr Shanmugam said on Monday: “A woman’s body is her own and that should not change when she marries. No still means no.”

In May 2023, the Ministry of Law (MinLaw) and Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) also passed the Family Justice Reform Act, and one of the key changes under the new Bill was to tackle the problem of non-compliance with maintenance orders.

The introduction of a new unit of maintenance enforcement officers, who have the power to get financial information about the defaulter from third parties like banks, the Central Provident Fund Board and Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore, is a game changer, he said.

At an interview with the media on the sidelines of the conference, Mr Shanmugam described the setting up of these new roles, which are under MinLaw, as a “very radical” move.

The MinLaw officers had studied what other countries have done, taken different ideas and added their own ideas to come up with maintenance enforcement officers.

With all the financial information at hand, these officers can distinguish those who can pay but refuse to give maintenance, from those who really cannot afford to pay. And tough measures can be imposed on the first group, while the latter group can be referred for financial aid.

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At the conference, Ms Sun was in a panel discussion together with Ms Yeo Wan Ling, director of NTUC U SME and U Women and Family, and Associate Professor Eleanor Wong, co-director of the National University of Singapore’s Centre for Pro-Bono and Clinical Legal Education.

Ms Yeo said that to empower women to leave abusive relationships, society has to give them the means to a livelihood and access to affordable housing.

She cited an example of a woman who wanted to leave her husband – who had abused her for many years – but decided not to call for help in the end, as she had no job and two young children.

A member of the audience shared her own story of chancing upon a woman, at a bus stop, standing next to an intoxicated man who was “not kind to her”.

That member of the audience saw fear in the woman’s eyes, but as she was alone, she walked away. Her inaction haunted her, and she wanted to know what the public can do if they witness domestic violence.

Minister of State for Social and Family Development Sun Xueling speaking at a panel discussion at the conference on July 24. With her is moderator Stefanie Yuen-Thio, board chair of SG Her Empowerment. PHOTO: LIANHE ZAOBAO

To this, Ms Sun shared her own story of coming across near her house a woman running away barefoot from a man who was chasing after her late at night several years ago.

The woman looked like she wanted to ask for help. The man also came up to Ms Sun, and looked like “he was daring me to do something”, she said.

Ms Sun called the police, who spent the next few hours patrolling the area to find the couple based on the details she provided.

Ms Sun said: “Laws are necessary, but insufficient. We need to make sure that people are aware of the new laws, what bad behaviour entails, and we need to provide multiple channels for members of the public to report bad behaviour. And we must work with community groups to provide different avenues of help.”

Correction note: An earlier version of the story said the Protection from Harassment Act (Poha) and the Penal Code were amended in 2019 to better protect victims of intimate partner violence, such as girlfriends. Until then, the unmarried did not qualify for protection against family violence under the Women’s Charter. This is inaccurate. This is because the unmarried do not qualify for protection under the Women’s Charter. Instead, those who are not married can file for a protection order under Poha. We are sorry for the error.