Lifting the veil of Singapore’s stay-at-home mothers
Housewife, stay-at-home mother (SAHM), and the taitai (lady in leisure) are a few phrases used to describe females in Singapore who aren’t in the labor force. Each term has a meaning of its own.
Before the mid-90s, it was common for women to evolve more at home than in the workforce. The highest recorded percentage of women in the city (aged 15-74) working was 62.6 percent in 2015. In 2019, this number was 61.2 percent.
According to the report of the government’s “Labour Force in Singapore 2019,” Singapore’s female population is 118,700. (aged 15 and over) They aren’t in the workforce because their family membfamily members are 51,600, of which 87 percent are between the ages of 30 and 49, and care for their children 12 or less. Other 67,000 of them care for their children beyond 12, grandchildren, and relatives, with 95 percent aged 40 or over.
Over the last decade, I’ve primarily been a stay-at-home mom and have been through my fair share of moments of joy, anxiety, and strategies for coping. I am often left wondering what other SAHMs do to manage.
Utilizing my public-policy lens, I started to find out more about SAHMs from Singapore.
Recently, through my connections, I had the opportunity to contact 26 SAHMs who are former or current in person (six of whom I’ve met personally). We spoke via the internet, email, WhatsApp, and Zoom regarding their personal lives, joys, concerns, and problems.
They are spread across different ethnicities. Si.ngaporean is the most popular, aged between 31 and 47 years old. They have up to five children, mostly from single-income households ranging from half to more than twice their median income (about $9,500).
Although the group may be tiny and not representative, Their conversations with me provide insight into their lives, which I’d like to share with you here.
I hope policymakers and the public will be aware of the issues that SAHMs face and their problems.
NOT ALWAYS A CHOICE
Singapore’s push for women to be in the workforce (with its attendant family-focused/friendly public policies) has resulted in a policy ideal-type family: A couple, both with jobs and growing Central Provident Fund (CPF) accounts, gets married, buys a home, has two or three children, who will in turn be taken care of by a combination of their grandparents, foreign domestic worker, and child/student-care from 7 am to 7 pm, while the couple is at work.
Many families are from this standard. Many SAHMs said that they joined because they had no other alternatives.
For instance, childcare was and remains unsuitable for children with special needs. Children’s care is also unsuited to parents who work shift work and do not receive assistance from their grandparents.
Sure, these issues are only apparent (sometimes several years) following their child’s birth, for example, the child’s developmental problems and learning challenges or grandparents taking charge of their grandchildren, grandparents being sick, or passing away.
The cumulative cost and disruption to their lives could be confusing.
UNLIKE HOUSEWIVES OF YESTERYEARS
It requires a specific attitude and mindset for women who have been educated to depart from the norm to leave the workforce and give the identity of an employee or career woman to concentrate on taking care of the family members.
They generally put their family’s needs before their own. They tend to be independent and willing to learn new techniques to handle their ever-changing and sometimes seemingly impossible family situations.
For instance, many seasoned SAHMs can be “automatically” responsible for caregiving to the sick, elderly members of the family since “everyone else is busy with work”.” I am very acquainted with the various departments of the hospital due to the fact that I have brought my mother-in-law there often. Her children are also employed,” said a SAHM who was a former department head at an elementary school in her mid-40s.
“My constant worry is that one of my parents or mother-in-law will fall ill, and I will become a caregiver to them,” one SAHM said, a former regional director in her 30s.
“Then the rest of my life wiLifeust be a caregiver — my children, my parents, my grandchildren. I guess I am okay with that. But (it) would be nice to pursue something for myself.”
They are acutely aware of the fact that their duties in their families cannot be diminished or outsourced in a significant way. They do not intend to change this.
Instead of feeling emotional, they are looking for something profoundly simple -gratitude for their work and ethos.
Although it may seem easy in theory, it is a requirement for our entire society to rethink its views about and prejudices against SAHMs.
DIFFERENT NEEDS
SAHMs comprise a wide range of. The difference between fresh SAHMs, typically in their 30s, and experienced SAHMs, usually in their 40s, is striking.
For example, new SAHMs aren’t as concerned as their more experienced counterparts about financial concerns, health issues, retirement adequacy, and the status of their husband’s jobs because they are younger and do not feel the need to tackle these issues until now.
LACKING RETIREMENT ADEQUACY
One SAHM spoke about retirement savings adequacy privately and directly. Three SAHMs shared that their husbands had filled the balance of their CPF accounts.
This implies that the CPF balances of women have remained stagnant.
Three SAHMs could have their CPF accounts top-up; one was a mortgagee for Housing and Development Board mortgage purposes, and the other two were rewarded with CPF Cash Top-Up Relief. CPF cash top-up relief suggests they believed that the men’s income tax was sufficient to be eligible for this benefit.
Although these families with a single income might be able to meet the current challenges, they may have more issues later on, particularly those who care for children with special needs.
DIY personal tax relief for the husband working is an effective option to help in the long run. SAHMs reach retirement readiness, particularly those in the household’s lower income brackets.
SEEKING PAID WORK
Work opportunities that are suitable and flexible working arrangements are significant concerns for anyone considering re-entry into the workforce. Experienced SAHMs tend to be seeking paid work. However, some aren’t sure about how to do it.
After at least a decade as a single-income family, experienced SAHMs”sole breadwinner” husbands tend to be in their late 40s or early 50s. It’s also a time when the risks of reduction are more significant, especially in the COVID-19 epidemic.
Existing policies on labor, including those that are part of the Work-Life Grant (Flexible Work Arrangement) and Job-Sharing Incentive, SGUnited Mid-Career Pathways Programme, Place-and-Train Programs, and the latest Jobs Growth Incentive tend to be focused on and assist those who are currently or have recently been working.
The only newly launched Career Trial also targets SAHMs and offers more than 500 opportunities for employers and job seekers to see how they work for a time.
It can be overwhelming and confusing for SAHMs to keep track of the numerous grants, programs, and schemes.
It might be better for relevant information to be redirected to SAHMs in a more specific method and via existing platforms like the Life.sgLife uglification THEM A VOICE.
While some SAHMs have financial challenges, most don’t consider relying on the government to solve their concerns and problems. It is typical for SAHMs, particularly those with lower than median household incomes, to say that the government should help the most vulnerable sections of society.
However, over half of the SAHMs thought having a specific representation for SAHMs in the Parliament was more inclusive.
Therein is the problem. Being an SAHM is an all-hours job, so SAHMs typically don’t benefit from time off to formalize their work or even be part of Parliament.
However, one needs to get to know a person intimately and represent this unknown group effectively.
In the United States, since 1999, there has been an increase in the number of Sof AHMs after many years of decline.
Is there an identical trend change in Singapore and other countries, particularly during the Covid-19 epidemic and recession? What should we do as a community to respond to the plights of this particular segment?
Here are some questions we can think about.
