Living in modern Singapore, one could be forgiven for believing that sexual equality is a given, especially when it comes to work and your employer is the government.
Not so. Currently, civil servants receive unequal benefits, with men allowed to use up to 60 per cent of an annual outpatient subsidy for their dependants, while women, who make up 54 per cent of the civil service, cannot.
Legislator Lim Hwee Hua has rightly pointed out that it has led to the perception that women are contributing less in the public sector. As a major employer, the government should, therefore, lead by example and change its policy, she argues. Such a move would be in line with the principle of shared responsibility for the family which the government has promoted.
Ms Lim is part of the Remaking Singapore committee, a government-appointed panel, which has spent the last year reviewing social, political and cultural policies.
It will officially make its recommendations to the government next month, but has publicised a few of its ideas, such as a five-day working week for civil servants (already, surprisingly, shot down by a senior government official); an overseas MP for overseas Singaporeans; a rethink on schools' ranking; and, more radically, a clearer definition of 'OB markers', a term used to describe acceptable political discourse.
All in all, Remaking Singapore is calling for the government to intervene less and for Singaporeans to take responsibility.
