In her second of three lectures, Corinna Lim, IPS’ 8th S R Nathan Fellow for the Study of Singapore, delved into gender differences in caregiving and its impact on Singapore’s low fertility rate and women’s labour force participation.
Ms Lim posits that the disproportionate burden of unpaid childcare and eldercare responsibilities shouldered by women entrenches the notion that females are the primary caregivers of the family, while males are expected to be the breadwinners of the household.
In her view, this not only constrains women’s progress in the economy and in leadership positions, but also contributes to the sharp decline of Singapore’s fertility rate in recent decades.
She also asserted that caregiving work — often undervalued and overlooked — is vital to the functioning of the economy.
“Care work is infrastructure. What Singapore needs is a robust care infrastructure to support our families’ care needs — both childcare and eldercare. Without a strong care infrastructure, our economy and our society just won’t tick,” she said.
Singapore’s Low Fertility Rate
Ms Lim believes that the key to improving Singapore’s “dangerously low” fertility rate lies in addressing the uneven burden of childcare imposed on mothers. She argued that the government’s pro-natal incentives, such as family leave and cash grants like baby bonuses, are insufficient.
Despite the government’s five-fold increase in annual spending to promote marriage and parenthood, from $500 million in 2001 to $2.5 billion in 2017, she noted that the Total Fertility Rate (TFR) nevertheless plunged to a historic low of 1.1 last year. Calling Singapore’s low birth rate an “existential issue”, Ms Lim warned that there could be about one-third as many Singaporeans as there are today in just two generations, citing figures then-Deputy Prime Minster Teo Chee Hean presented to Parliament in 2013, which had a TFR of 1.2 at that time.
“The issue is not just money. It’s also about time, stress, and the actual work of caregiving. … Leave is essential, of course, and money is always welcome. But the actual burden of caregiving, especially the burden on mothers was still not addressed,” she added.
Ms Lim described how it typically falls upon women in Singapore to disrupt their careers to focus on child rearing, preparing their kids for the pivotal Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) and caring for their ageing parents.
She contended that this unequal distribution of caregiving responsibilities hampers women’s participation rate in the workforce, stunting women’s career development and limiting their accumulation of retirement savings.
“The issues of women’s workforce participation rate and Singapore's low fertility rates boil down to one thing: the expectation that women, who are now educated and have careers, will continue to bear the brunt of the caregiving burden, as they did in the past,” Ms Lim said.
"This expectation sets up a situation where women have to choose between their careers and their children."
The Gender Equality Solution
To tackle Singapore’s baby shortage and raise women’s labour force participation, Ms Lim proposed increasing fathers’ paternity leave and granting men an equal right to claim spousal maintenance from their wives. Dubbed the “Gender Equality Solution”, she believes these measures would foster a more gender equal and pro-family culture.
Nordic countries like Sweden and Finland have shown that it is possible to achieve higher fertility rates and competitive economies with the right family support laws and care policies in place, Ms Lim said.
Currently, fathers in Singapore receive two weeks of paid paternity leave, while mothers are entitled to four months of paid maternity leave. This disparity reinforces the idea that raising a child is predominantly a women’s job, she remarked.
Ms Lim suggested increasing the paid paternity leave from two weeks to three months, recommending a cap of six months’ paid leave for both parents. Couples can choose to split their leave 50-50, with three months each, or 60-40, with two months of leave for fathers and four months for mothers. In her view, this would role model a greater sense of gender equality for the next generation.
“Women going out to work changed the way that their children thought about women’s roles in society. In the same way, men doing more at home will change the way that our children see men’s roles in society,” she said.
Ms Lim also advocated amending the Women’s Charter to give men the same rights to seek maintenance from their former spouses. Currently, Section 69 of the Women’s Charter only allows men to apply for spousal maintenance if they are incapacitated by illness or disability. She states that this reflects the antiquated patriarchal norm that men are obligated to support and maintain their wives as the primary breadwinner in the household.
“It is time to update this provision and give men the same rights as women to apply for maintenance. Where husbands do apply for maintenance, the Courts will make the final decision on whether it is fair to award this,” she added.
Care Infrastructure Investments and Education Reforms
Ms Lim also pressed the State to invest in a robust care infrastructure by providing universal access to affordable childcare services so as to ease the burden of child rearing for mothers. She felt that the over-reliance on private market solutions such as domestic workers and private childcare puts low-income mothers at a disadvantage and exacerbates social inequality.
Additionally, she called for the overhauling of the PSLE, contending that the current system reproduces class and gender inequalities by favouring privileged families who can afford to spend on private tuitions and pressuring mothers to take career breaks to guide their children during this crucial period.
Singapore’s Ageing Population
Turning to the elderly, Ms Lim expressed concern that the current development of eldercare policies and infrastructure are wholly inadequate to support the needs of a rapidly ageing population. She brought up the lack of paid eldercare leave, affordable day care and home care services, as well as a shortage of nursing homes and respite care spaces to help family caregivers — usually women — cope with the physical and financial stress.
Ms Lim urged the government to review its “conservative” approach to its long-term care investments and build a compassionate, high-quality eldercare system that treats seniors with respect and dignity.
Q&A session
To kick off the discussion, moderator Ms Lin Suling, Executive Editor of CNA Digital News, asked Ms Lim about the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on women in Singapore.
Ms Lim shared that the pandemic revealed the importance of access to caregiving support that the majority of women depend on. According to her, COVID-19 intensified and laid bare the daily essential caregiving needs, especially during the circuit breaker. As care services were forced to shut down temporarily, women and their families were deprived of the childcare and eldercare services that they depended upon.
She also drew attention to the sharp rise in cases of domestic violence against women during the lockdown.
Responding to a suggestion on raising the entitlement of paid paternity leave to four months, such that it is equal to mothers, Ms Lim replied that it is unrealistic at this point as employers, particularly small businesses, are conscious of their bottom lines and thus reluctant to follow through. She preferred a gradual, phased approach, adding that Singapore currently lacks the requisite infrastructure needed for organisations to offer generous parental leave benefits, such as a robust interim work industry and funding for these pro-family leave schemes through employment insurance.
On improving Singapore’s fertility rate, Ms Lim was asked if the focus ought to be on encouraging more women to get married, instead of easing caregiving needs. To this, she conceded that both approaches are trying to solve the same problem and reiterated that the fundamental issue remains creating favourable conditions to support parenthood aspirations.
On the topic of whether housewives should be paid a salary for their household and caregiving work, Ms Lim backed the provision of a monthly allowance to financially support caregivers of the elderly who may be forced to quit their jobs mid-career. However, she was conflicted about extending it to child caregiving, cautioning that this may discourage women from seeking a professional career.
Ms Lim also believes that there is a need to address Singapore’s corporate-centric culture that has led to the undervaluing of caregiving work, advocating for a shift in the collective mindset to enable a more sustainable work-life balance. In her view, it requires rethinking economic structures to better reflect and strengthen the values that bind us as a society. She remains hopeful in the role of the private sector to improve the development of the care economy, stating that businesses have a critical part to play in conjunction with the government to support caregiving benefits and services.
Click here to watch the video of lecture II.