A politics of accommodation

Abstract

For the first time since achieving Independence in 1965, women now make up more than 10 per cent of parliamentary representatives in Singapore. While this figure still lags behind international benchmarks, it is a significant improvement on the last election in which women made up less than 5 per cent of MPs. This article explores the factors that led to the increase in women's parliamentary representation. I examine the attitudes of senior leaders within the ruling People's Action Party (PAP), as well as recent constitutional reforms, including the introduction of the Nominated Members of Parliament (NMPs) scheme and the creation of a Group Representative Constituency (GRC) system. I argue that while these reforms provide improved opportunities for women to participate in politics, it is the PAP that largely determines women's electoral chances. Despite party protestations to the contrary, women do not enter a level playing field, but one in which the terms of engagement are largely PAP defined. It is a political environment in which women are always primarily identified with the family. While both culture and politics are important factors in determining women's political representation, the manipulation of ‘culture’ for political purposes by a male-dominated party elite is more significant. Until the issue of gender inequality is directly addressed, women's opportunities to participate in politics will thus remain limited.

Keywords:

• gender
• parliament
• People's Action Party
• political representation
• politics
• Singapore

Notes

1. In the most recent round of NMP appointments (November 2004) three women were selected, dropping women's overall share of seats in parliament to 13.8 per cent.

2. See Lovenduski and Norris (1993), Darcy et al. (1994), Rule (1994) and Inglehart et al. (2002).

3. Inglehart et al. (2002) argue that Catholicism encourages more traditional attitudes towards women in politics than Protestantism, whereas Reynolds (1999) found the greatest divisions between Christian countries and all other religions.

4. Norris (1987) found that countries that score more highly on a ‘political egalitarianism’ index (based on a survey of attitudes towards women in politics) have a larger proportion of women in government.

5. Shvedova (2002) argues that cultural norms and values that assign sex roles to men and women hinder women's legislative participation.

6. Paxton (cited in Kenworthy and Malami 1999) found that contrary to common sentiment, the level of women's parliamentary representation is not positively related to the level of democracy. Inglehart et al. (2002) argue that although gender equality in parliament is closely linked with democracy, neither variable seems to be a direct cause of the other. Rather they suggest that women's increasing representation in parliament is part of a ‘broader cultural change that is … bringing growing mass demands for increasingly democratic institutions’ (Inglehart et al. 2002: 343).

7. Leftist parties are expected to espouse greater commitment to gender equality and to nominate more women as candidates. Although research conducted in European countries in the 1980s supports this view, more recent data suggest that in the most affluent democratic countries, conservative parties are as likely as leftist parties to nominate women (Kenworthy and Malami 1999).

8. Shvedova (2002) describes this model as a system of political life that is based around male norms, values and/or lifestyles, including competition and confrontation. Such values are not limited to the parliamentary system itself, but also predominate in political parties.

9. According to Lovenduski and Karam (2002) this includes the level of financial support, access to networks and the nomination system used for candidates.

10. The so-called ‘iron law of politics’ that ‘the more the power, the fewer the women’ (Raaum 1995: 253).

11. Country-specific studies show mixed results. A number of countries using PR have smaller percentages of women parliamentarians than countries using single-member majoritarian systems. Andrew Reynolds (1999: 572) argues that the role of PR systems in increasing women's representation is more noticeable in Western Europe than it is in other parts of the world, including Asia.

12. The number of opposition MPs rose to four in 1991 and has since dropped to two.

13. The NGO sector has always been tightly regulated but in the late 1980s a number of groups oriented towards social change were permitted to register under the Societies Act with the express directive that they remain ‘non-political’. Such groups include a feminist group – the Association of Women for Action and Research (Lyons 2000) and an environmental group – the Nature Society of Singapore (Hill and Lian 1995).

14. The last remaining woman MP Madam Chan Choy Siong resigned from office in 1970.

15. Further information about AWARE can be obtained from the organization's website – http://www.aware.org.sg (last accessed 10 January 2005). For an overview of AWARE's activities and membership see Lyons (2004).

16. This classification is important because it determines men's and women's differential access to services and equal employment opportunities. Until recently, for example, the civil service only extended medical benefits to the dependants of male civil servants (officially designated as ‘heads of households’).

17. The Government suspended the publication of Woman's Affair after the publication of this article. Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong stated: ‘My consultative style doesn't mean that we allow magazines to report only negative and biased views’ (Straits Times 1991).