Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong said he hopes to field more women candidates in the coming General Election.
“Throughout my working life, I have benefited from working with men and women who bring a wider range of perspectives and help contribute to better solutions,” he said in a speech at the People’s Action Party (PAP) Women’s Wing conference on Saturday.
“To me, having that diversity in the team is very useful,” he added.
“In the coming election, I hope to be able to field more women candidates,” Wong said. “When we do so, please support them! Help me to increase our women representation in Parliament.”
Compared to the 1970s to the early 1980s, where all PAP Members of Parliament (MPs) were men, close to one-third of PAP MPs are now women, noted Wong.
The number of female Political Office Holders has also increased, he added.
The number of women PAP MPs started from just three in 1984 to 23 today, PAP said in a media release on Saturday.
“PAP recognised the importance of women’s political participation to champion women’s and Singapore’s development, and pledged to push for more women representation in Parliament,” read the media release.
In his speech, Wong also said that advancing the cause for gender equality in Singapore should not be seen as a zero-sum issue.
“Equality for women does not mean that the men get less,” he said, adding that the gains that women make in society do not mean that the men will inevitably lose out.
He noted a growing divergence in views between men and women in some countries.
Boys and young men also face challenges with education, jobs and mental health, he said.
“If they feel their concerns are not adequately addressed, men and young boys then out of a sense of insecurity, some may see the movement for equality for women as a movement against men,” Wong said.
“We must never let that happen here,” he added.
“The fact is that we are all in this together,” he said, adding men and women have to work together to learn together, get married, form families and raise children together.
Wong said that this was why he focused on this issue at the National Day Rally, where he mandated four weeks of paternity leave and introduced a new shared parental leave scheme.
This story was first published by CNA
