Did you know that the theme for IWD 2025 is #AccelerateAction?
I am all for celebrating women on 8 March, but IWD is much more than a rah-rah sisterhood event with champagne.
2025 is the 30th Anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, the world’s most comprehensive plan to achieve the equal rights of all women and girls. The Beijing Platform highlighted 12 critical areas of concern that still anchor governmental policies for gender equality today. In 1995, 189 governments agreed to eliminate gender inequality in areas ranging from poverty, education, health, violence against women, physical risks in armed conflict, economic inequalities, political decision-making, institutional mechanisms, access to media. This should already dispel the misconception that gender equality is a ‘Western’ concept.
Gender equality as a concept may seem unnaturally foreign to us in Singapore. After all, we are blessed to have (mostly) closed our gender gaps in education, political representation and economic inequalities. I cannot imagine any right-thinking Singaporean parent expecting less of their daughters than they would expect of their sons. In Singapore, women are able to work in any field and any job that they set their minds on. If anything, persistent online chatter about the Women’s Charter being pro-female and anti-male, and the perceived 2-year economic advantage that Singaporean women have over Singaporean men due to National Service – only demonstrates that Singaporean women enjoy every opportunity to break glass ceilings.
So what would I wish for this IWD that would #AccelerateAction?
3 wishes:
- A reduced mental load
- Due recognition of unseen labour
- For co-parenting to be a joint duty, and not the sole responsibility of the care and control spouse
Sounds like first world problems but still real world problems that prevent women from achieving their fullest potential.
Here’s to Equality, Rights and Empowerment!
