By Deborah Choo
Ms Braema Mathi
The government needs to provide more data transparency in the Budget reports, said Ms Braema Mathi at The Online Citizen’s Budget Forum on Saturday.
She was one of the three panelists invited to speak at the forum.
Ms Mathi, a former AWARE president and current president of human rights NGO MARUAH, spoke on behalf of AWARE on the need to bring women’s perspective to the Singapore Budget.
“It is very important for us to start lobbying, advocating with the government on what we feel from a women’s’ perspective (what) we see as gaps in the Budget,” she said.
These are the five focus key areas she expounded on:
- Families with children
- Care giving
- People in financial distress
- Women’s health
- Women and employment
Questioning the definition of the different forms of employment – formal economy or full time, and part time (especially when the criteria for part time workers’ hours are getting longer), she asked: Who really are the people whom the government is really targeting? And what is the proportion of women in the formal economy?
Transparency of Budget allocation
With $46.37 billion being the Operating and Development Expenditures, the budget 2010 was allocated as such:
The highest budget allocation went to the Ministry of Defense (MOD) with a whopping 25 percent, which Ms Mathi stated, from a women’s perspective, is a highly predominantly male industry. MOE’s allocated 21 percent was also an increase of ten percent from the previous year.
In her words, it is also notable that “the ministries that take care more about the social issues of people in the country” has decreased, all except for Ministry of Manpower (MOM) which saw an increase of budget allocation.
Whilst it is good that more money is going into human development in education, she called for more accountability by the Minster of Education Dr Ng Eng Hen pertaining to the usage for the extra ten percent of budget.
AWARE therefore calls for is the transparency of data whereby it is consistently segregated into ages to facilitate across-the-board analysis of benefits a certain age group is receiving, as well as gender.
Citing the differential volume of details provided in the reports submitted by each Ministry to account for the Budget, she urged for a standardized approach arises for a clearer delineation of the flow of funds in the operations and development expenditures.
Families with children
According to the 2010 statistics, a median income family of $2,700 is spending about a substantial 30 percent on childcare services. “So on child care and kinder garden care…having cut off eligibility criteria as $1,800 may not really be enough anymore,” said Ms Mathi.
While AWARE applauds the news of a greater liberalization of the eligibility criteria, Braema stated that a gap still exists; the 2010 statistics of average monthly household income is $3,500 while the monthly median household income has increased to $5,000. Hence, the eligibility criteria for subsidies for childcare and kindergarten should be pegged to the prevailing median income.
Caregivers
Making a sweeping statement that care giving does seem like a “double burden or triple burden” – meaning children, parents and grandparents, she quickly (and maybe deliberately) apologized for the use of the word “burden”. Advocating that it should be viewed as a joy instead to take care of one’s family, she then raised the question: Why does it so often feel like a burden? The answer, she said, lies in the lack of social support for care giving in Singapore.
Raising concerns as well over the disproportionate fund allocation by the Ministry of Community, Youth and Sports (MCYS) Development Fund 2010, she said, “For care centres, vis-à-vis perhaps upgrading of community clubs, one gets $15 million, the other one gets maybe about $6 million or something. So how are we allocating our resources is what we must keep our eye on.”
Student Care
On the subject of student care, Ms Mathi stated the AWARE’s focus in on the youths. “Who wants to go into a semi-tuition centre after school? I rather hang out at the shopping mall. So the whole system of aftercare needs a lot more of thinking creatively in resources,” she said.
Rather than increasing school activities, more resources should be given to Voluntary Welfare Organizations (VWOs) to support the outsourcing of activities for youths’ participation.
Enhancing Work-Life Balance Issues
Source: sg.theasianparent.com
The last marriage and parenthood package saw an expenditure of $790 million, which is $1.6 billion including tax credits. AWARE proposes that:
- One month of the current four month maternity leave should be converted to parental leave to be taken by either spouse.
- Unwed mothers should be extended the same motherhood and childcare benefits as married mothers.
- Start a gender sensitization programme at the Civil Service College so that policy-makers will better understand gender issues and the impact of gender-biased assumptions and attitudes.
She called for lower-client career ratio dependency subsidy (not limited to children only), more women shelters due to an increasing number of groups of women e.g. foreign women married to Singaporean men whose marriages failed, and more day care centers for elderly.
Women’s Health
Ms Mathi questioned the success rate of the intensive care management piloted in 2010 whereby as many as ten clients are assigned to one care manager.
According to KKH’s women’s hospital admissions for 2009, it registered about as high as 30 percent. However, again more data transparency is required here as details such as affordability bill patterns, killer diseases for women, the percentage of women who are using Medisave to cope, as well as the source of their funds remains a puzzle.
Women and employment
According to the Monthly Statistics Digest January 2011, only 55 percent of women are in formal workforce. The ramifications of CPF and Medisave contributions aside, it is also found that only three percent of women earn $10,000 or more compared to 7.3 percent of men – this despite the increasing level of education received by women. This thus leads one to question the equality of gender where salaries are concerned.
However, that said, for better analysis, it boils down yet again to the need for more information for desegregation data.
Singapore’s low TFR
Responding to an audience’s question on the impact of Singapore’s low fertility birth rate in the long run, Ms Mathi stated that AWARE’s position is as such: The Total Fertility Rate (TFR) is not increasing due to the incomprehensiveness of the marriage and parenthood package.
She added that the package is firstly unsustainable, secondly, employers do not have flexible work arrangements to keep up with the mandatory and non-mandatory maternity leaves and thirdly, men do not think they play an equal role in post-structuring of parenting but rather is still under the ideology of being the breadwinner of the family.
While stating that she has no issues with the foreign workers immigration into Singapore, she also acknowledged the possibility of the entire population constitution will change in due course to see a different kind of Singapore emerge.
To read AWARE’s press release in response to the Budget 2011, click here.
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If only the govt had invited feedback from these speakers at TOC forum, they could have formulated better policies and budget.
These professional folks have more practical approach, since they are more in touch with ground reality, unlike our govt which seems to be living in their own élite’ box.
There is fundamental problem with their focus on growth and GDP. To quote from John Stuart Mill :
If the earth must lose that great portion of its pleasantness which it owes to things that the unlimited increase of wealth and population would extirpate from it, for the mere purpose of enabling it to support a larger, but not a better or a happier population, I sincerely hope, for the sake of posterity, that they will be content to be stationary, long before necessity compel them to it.
Think women in Singapore are already a well protected lot. You should all stand firmly behind men so that they would not lose their jobs to PRs & foreign talent.
In critical times like now, you need to focus your energy of your group. Stand up fo ryour poor fellow man who are so stressed out at work and in life. Thanks.
If she is the ex-president of AWARE, why is she speaking on its behalf?
“The highest budget allocation went to the Ministry of Defense (MOD) with a whopping 25 percent, which Ms Mathi stated, from a women’s perspective, is a highly predominantly male industry.”
Chey, women if they want equitable distribution should participate in National Service. I think man should form an organisation to propose a better allocation for males.
The overwhelmingly large allocation of 25% to defence came as a surprise to most people. Are we gearing up for something? I guess this is a sensitive area and no want can ask for more transparency!