Women's Charter Under Assault

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An honorable member of the Coffee Shop Has Just Posted the Following:

http://www.singaporelawwatch.sg/slw/...utm_medium=web


Women’s Charter needs to be updated to reflect fairness, agree rights groups, lawyers
Source
TODAY
Date
24 Apr 2014
AuthorLaura Philomin
SINGAPORE — A recent judgment over a divorce case has reignited the perennial debate over the level of protection women are entitled to under the Women’s Charter, with family law experts and women’s rights groups urging a review of the charter to reflect an era where more women are well-educated and financially independent.

Concurring with Justice Choo Han Teck’s ruling — where he denied a woman’s application for spousal maintenance from her former husband and disagreed with the need for “token maintenance” — most of them agreed with his suggestion that the Women’s Charter be renamed to reflect a more encompassing and gender-neutral law.

In his grounds of decision on the case published on Monday, Justice Choo said that the idea that maintenance is an unalloyed right of a divorced woman is one borne from the time when women were housewives living on the maintenance of the men.

This idea should be changed, he said, pointing out: “If the woman is truly equal and independent, she does not require nor would she, I think, desire patronising gestures.”

Women’s groups and lawyers TODAY spoke to supported Justice Choo’s decision, saying a matrix of factors including earning capacity should be taken into account when deciding on spousal maintenance matters. “If (a woman) doesn’t need money from (her ex-husband) because she’s financially independent, that’s a fair judgment,” said Mr Koh Tien Hua from Harry Elias Partnership.

Ms Devi Haridas from Sim Law Practice LLC, agreed, adding that “token maintenance” — which can be as little as S$1 and is awarded to preserve the wife’s rights to any future maintenance — need only apply to the low-income who need more financial support.

Ms Jolene Tan, a spokesperson for the Association of Women for Action and Research, pushed the needs-based argument further, saying the law should be updated such that a man can claim maintenance from his former wife if deemed necessary, because the entire basis for maintenance is fairness and not gender.

However, the Singapore’s Council of Women’s Organisations, while agreeing there is “sense” in redrafting the Women’s Charter, said although many women are able to work, they still bear the majority of the household and childcare responsibilities. “This contribution must also be entered into any equations for distribution of assets and alimony,” it said.

Member of Parliament (Sembawang GRC) Ellen Lee, a consultant at Ramdas & Wong, said she has raised the issue of renaming the Women’s Charter in Parliament. “The Women’s Charter in itself protects both the man and the woman. It also has to reflect the fact that it protects men,” she said.

Mr Koh, however, noted the charter was passed to protect and create a legal status for women; hence renaming it or reducing it to divorce-related issues “doesn’t seem to do justice to the creation of the charter”.

Calls to rename the charter and amend it to make spousal maintenance gender-neutral were made when the charter was reviewed in 2010, but the Government had concluded then that Singapore was not ready as a society to make the move, the Ministry of Social and Family Development said.

“Women’s labour force participation was still lower than men and women were usually the ones caring for the children post-divorce. We will study the matter again when we next review the Women’s Charter,” a spokesperson said.

"The Women’s Charter in itself protects both the man and the woman. It also has to reflect the fact that it protects men."
Ms Ellen Lee, Member of Parliament (Sembawang GRC) and consultant at Ramdas & Wong


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