Based on a survey result jointly conducted by multinational research and consulting firm Ipsos and United Women Singapore, a non-profit organization firm, despite the high labour force participation of women in Singapore, Singaporean women still bear more of the household and caring responsibilities.
Nearly 9 in 10 Singaporeans agree that household chores can be equally shared by husband and wife.
However, 43% of the women surveyed said they are the main person responsible for carrying out house cleaning tasks, while 24% of men think the women are.
54% of women as compared to 75% of the men surveyed said they are happy about their household and caring responsibilities
The survey also noted that happiness levels tend to be reportedly higher for women who are able to work from home. However, there is no perceivable differences for men working from home or in office.
Despite the perceived greater gender equality in Singapore, the results of the survey shows that the idea of traditional gender roles still persist. While the government can formulate policies to reflect gender equality, it is harder to change attitudes. What is heartening is that the attitudes for younger Singaporeans reflect the move towards gender equality at home, based on the survey results: 38% of married women below 35 years old said that house cleaning responsibilities is fairly shared between the spouses, better than the 28% of married women aged 35 – 44 years old.