This year marks the third time that AWARE is submitting a Shadow Report to the United Nations (UN) committee on the Convention On The Elimination Of All Forms Of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).

On July 18, our CEDAW team presented AWARE’s findings and recommendations to the UN CEDAW Committee at the UN headquarters inNew York, highlighting areas where women’s rights in Singapore still need improvement.

The AWARE delegation to the United Nations comprises: AWARE CEDAW Sub-Committee chair Braema Mathi, who is also AWARE’s Research & Advocacy Director; AWARE Vice-President Halijah Mohamad; AWARE immediate past president Dana Lam; and AWARE research executive Nadzirah Samsudin.

Some issues AWARE’s presentation addressed:
• A call on the State to provide a timeframe for amending local laws and the Constitution to include ‘gender’ and ‘marital status’
• The removal of the reservation to the State’s obligation to ensure that women have equal opportunity and access to employment
• A critique of the government’s wish to confine its consultations on women’s issues to three approved bodies: the Singapore Council of Women’s Organisations, the People’s Association Women’s Wing and the NTUC Women’s Committee and Women’s Development Secretariat. This approach ignores the advocacy work of many interest groups that work on a wide variety of women’s issues.
• Recommending that the Office of Women’s Development, currently under MCYS’ Family Division Unit, be made an independent body with its own budget, so that it can address all matters related to gender mainstreaming as a policy approach.
• Urging more legal protection and social services assistance for vulnerable women, including women who are sexually harassed, foreign domestic workers, foreign wives married to Singapore men, sexual minorities, and casual and contract workers.

You may also find AWARE’s CEDAW Shadow Report at http://www.aware.org.sg/research-advocacy/cedaw/ and images of our CEDAW delegation in New York at http://www.flickr.com/photos/awaresg/sets/72157627105048931/.

Read AWARE’s presentation to the UN here.

Subscribe
Notify of
0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
You May Also Like

Sticking to the letter of the law

Commuter fined despite explaining that she was feeling giddy and thirsty.

SDP’s May Day mesage

The following is the Singapore Democratic Party’s May Day message received by…

Johor Bahru to use thermal scanners at checkpoints to screen travellers from Singapore

State Health and Environment Committee Chairman Ayub Rahmat has stated that people…

【选举】“能死不能病”!工人党陈贞贞:不应设限10万元额度,减轻人民疾苦

工人党在直播中提及医药费不断提高让人民生活愈发困苦,因此主张调低自付和共同承担额度,并不应设限每年10万元额度,确保人民能够负担医药费。 在工人党铁锤秀(The Hammer Show)中,榜鹅西单选区工人党候选人陈贞贞在政纲中提及高医药费一事,称随着医疗费用不断提高,坊间一直流传“能死不能病”,人民生活愈发困苦,尽管终生健保能够给付大部分医药费,但其设限在10万元,与此同时,病人仍需承担多达10巴仙的费用。 陈贞贞表示,虽然每年有10万元的补贴,减轻病人家庭的痛苦,但也因医疗费补贴的设限,导致长期住院,或承担昂贵的医疗费无法全额补助,而且有些昂贵的药物并非涵盖在终生健保中,只能由病人自付,但却无形增加了病人家庭的负担。 榜鹅西单选区工人党候选人陈贞贞认为,调低自付额和共同承担额,并不设限10万元额度,以确保人民能够负担其医药费。 盛港集选区的候选人何廷儒亦同意,并应将整体照护和医疗系统视为一个整体,而不是将其分开对待。 不应忽视主妇或自雇人士的福利,应承认他们的贡献 此外,陈贞贞也认为主妇的功劳也不应被忽视,在疫情期间,许多主妇都兼顾看家和工作的主责,因此工人党认为所有劳动者应被重视,包括主妇的权益。 公益机构前研究员阿都沙利(Abdul Shariff)与工人党成员陈俊元亦分享所见所闻,表示许多照顾者家中往往会有超过一位的家眷需要被照顾,如小孩和年迈父母。年轻的父母往往因工作原因,无法抽出时间照顾孩子,最终孩子也只能由年长者代为照顾。不仅如此,年迈父母也可能因身体不适而需要获得照顾,让夹心阶层陷入两难。 阿杜沙利提到,这些照顾者纷纷表示,尽管如今雇主能够给予弹性的时间和福利,但实质上该弹性的福利难以在工作中实行。…