Globalization, the Patriarchal State and Women's Resistance in Singapore

Doran, Christine; Jose, Jim

doi:10.1177/097185240200600203

Cited by 7 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 13 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…In reality, ideology is more likely the reason for Singapore's quota nonadoption. The PAP is a socially conservative party that promotes pro-family policies based on the patriarchal view of the man as the head of the family and woman as the family's caregiver (Doran and Jose 2002; Haque 2000). Some of their infamous pro-family policies include a 30% university admission quota 1 that curbed the number of women medical students in the national medical school for 25 years and gave unequal citizenship rights and medical benefits to men and women 2 .…”

Section: Why No Gender Quota?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Party Quotas and Rising Women Politicians in Singapore

Tan

2015

Pol & Gen

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Women were severely underrepresented in Singapore's early politics. From 1970 to 1984, not a single female member was found in the Parliament. Unlike the experiences of Taiwan and South Korea in this issue, the ruling People's Action Party (PAP) of Singapore faced no similar pressure from the opposition parties or feminist groups to adopt gender quotas to “fast track” women into politics (Dahlerup and Freidenvall 2005). Yet, the total number of women candidates increased from 0 in 1980 to 32 by 2011. And women's legislative representation reached a high of 23% after the 2011 general election.

show abstract

Section: Why No Gender Quota?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Party Quotas and Rising Women Politicians in Singapore

Tan

2015

Pol & Gen

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The sterilisation requirement was removed, but the scheme, in its essence, remains in the current HOPE Scheme which serves the same purpose ("Reproductive Rights", 2015). These eugenicist policies were intended to "promote higher birth rates among educated Chinese women and to curtail prevailing rates among Malays and Indians" (Doran & Jose, 2002), reinforcing the gender, racial and class hierarchy in the country.…”

Section: Deference To Political Authority-reiterated Through East Asian Values That Thementioning

confidence: 99%

“Apa salahku?”: Interrogating social policy problem representations of domestic violence within Singapore's Malay/Muslim population

Rahman¹

2021

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

What’s the problem of domestic violence (DV) represented to be in Singapore’s social policy? This thesis interrogates the social policy responses to DV by looking at its discursive effects on Singapore’s Indigenous Malay/Muslim population. Undergirding the study is a theoretical understanding of structural intersectionality, which allows for a recognition of the unique identity of the Malay/Muslim population in Singapore. Such an approach contextualises Malay/Muslim women’s experiences of DV against the backdrop of Singapore’s colonial history and its current Anglo-Chinese political hegemony, which adopts a neoliberal, patriarchal and authoritarian form of governance. Through qualitative interviews with seven professional advocates working in the social sector and public service, and in-depth analysis of policy documents and first-hand accounts, I examined the ways in which the problem of DV has been imagined and, thus, remedied. Using thematic analysis and taking some inspiration from Carol Bacchi’s post-structuralist “What’s the problem represented to be?” analytical tool, I identified the representations of DV that are found in the interviews and first-hand accounts by survivors and uncover the implicit problematisations within the discourses. These representations show that DV within the Malay/Muslim population is seen as experiences of patriarchal and religious authoritarianism, housing and income insecurity, inadequacies with informal strategies of resistance, and limitations of formal forms of resistance. Then, using the WPR mode of questioning more conventionally, I analysed policy documents and solutions, such as counselling, public education and criminal justice solutions, to reflect on the parameters and limits of how DV has been problematised and where policies fall short in addressing Malay/Muslim women’s experiences according to discourse. The study concludes that social policy solutions define DV within the Malay/Muslim population largely as cultural problems, divorced from the historical and structural context it operates within. Problem representations also mute the overarching ideological position of Singapore’s governance. The findings urge advocates and policy-makers to commit to a structural intersectional framework that actively dismantles the neoliberal capitalist systems and patriarchal ideologies legitimised by the State, which underpin and intensify experiences of DV among Malay/Muslim women and other marginalised groups.

show abstract

“…Addressing the Challenge: This Special Issue While feminist scholars are beginning to interrogate the gendered impact of globalization (Doran and Jose, 2002; GTD, Vol. 3, No.…”

Section: Feminist Critiques Of Globalizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…1 ), the relationship between globalization theory and 'gender and development' scholarship is still unclear. As noted by Doran and Jose (2002), while it is obvious that gender relations are deeply implicated in the dynamics of globalization, within mainstream discussions of globalization there is scant acknowledgement of feminist work. Our ongoing task is to reveal the social, political, economic and cultural interplay between the very categories of the 'global' and the 'local' and their relationship to gender phenomena in their various manifestations (Chow, 2002: p. 4).…”

Section: Feminist Critiques Of Globalizationmentioning

confidence: 99%