"People still see women's rights as a female issue — not a nationwide one."

The Association of Women for Action and Research — or Aware — has been around for 36 years. In that time, it has seen Singapore through landmark changes in its journey to gender equality: The post-Graduate Mothers Scheme era, the years when discriminatory policies against women were gradually dismantled, and the current rash of tech-aided voyeurism.

For Aware’s current president Margaret Thomas, the laws might reflect a more equitable society for women in Singapore today, but that does little to change things.

“Institutions are starting to have conversations on ‘women’s development’,” says Thomas. “Okay, it’s good we’re having them — but why are we calling it conversations on women’s development? It’s not women that need developing — it’s men, or society. Here you see the fundamental problem: People still see it as women’s issue, and not a nationwide issue. It’s very subtle, and very deep seated.”

Singapore has done away with some discriminatory laws against women – does that address the core problem?

Years ago, Singapore had several laws or policies that actively discriminated against women. There was a quota on the number of women admitted to medical school — women could make up no more than a third of each new cohort. And this quota was imposed in 1979 and lifted in 2003. The argument was: It’s expensive to train a doctor, and if she is going to leave and take care of kids after finishing her studies, then it’s just a waste of time and money.

Another one was regarding female civil servants. Up till 2004, a male civil servant’s medical benefits were extended to his wife and children. But female civil servants had no such provisions for their family. The argument for that was: “Oh, your husband is a man — he will have his own benefits.”

Discrimination isn’t always through obvious laws and policies. It comes from the thinking behind these traditions, these cultures, that lead to these things.

So where does the root of the problem lie?

You can do away with these discriminatory laws, but that mindset that led to such policies may still be there. Because if you don’t change that patriarchal mindset — which women subscribe to as much as men — then we are still going to have all the problems that come with it.

The approach so far in tackling sexual violence has been to has been to tighten the laws and penalties for offenders. This may be needed, but it does not appear to have reduced the incidence of sexual violence. So obviously tougher penalties is not going to solve the problem.

The two big issues today, are caregiving — with women still having to shoulder the bulk of the burden of looking after children and other family members — and violence and the sexual objectification of women. Both these issues are rooted in archaic notions of gender roles, and a patriarchal mindset. Aware has been working to change these mindsets for 36 years.

Minister for Law and for Home Affairs K Shanmugam made this remarkable speech in September last year; when I heard it, I said, “That’s an Aware speech!” [laughs]

He basically said we need to make gender equality a fundamental value in Singapore — and this is what Aware has been calling for all along. The only way we can really try and curb sexual violence against women is if we, at a very young age, start teaching young boys and girls about mutual respect, about equality.

How do we go about changing that mindset?

We started Aware because we didn’t want to just grumble about the policies we thought were wrong. We wanted to base our advocacy on research, on evidence. We wanted to say why this policy is wrong, and why we recommend these changes. But we know that gender equality takes a long time — not just here, anywhere else in the world.

The big change is really in the hands of the young, really. With some of the things we have called for, it took many years before we began to see some change. Look at the whole #MeToo movement — Tarana Burke coined the phrase in 2006, but the conditions for it to become a movement only came about a decade later, in 2017. Sometimes you just have to keep at it.

I’m optimistic. Many young people want the changes we have been calling for. The future is theirs to shape, and it’s looking good.

Photography GAN KAH YING

Styling GREGORY WOO

Styling Assistant ADELYNN WONG