Member of Parliament Louis Ng talked about the unique situation the COVID-19 pandemic has put us into, with the implementation of the “circuit breaker” (Singapore’s version of the lockdown) that led to many people having to work from home (CNA, 2020b). Many fathers, who were otherwise mostly working outside of the home prior to the “circuit breaker”, get to experience and partake in a larger portion of childcare during this period. Citing surveys on perceptions of work-from-home as well as anecdotes, including his own, Louis argued in parliament that the work-from-home arrangement is overall beneficial for the family as it reduces the mother’s childcare burden and allows the father to increase his shared responsibility and spend more time with the child. Moreover, this could facilitate a rise in Singapore’s female labour participation rate as mothers become less shackled by childcare. Overall, this would lead to a bigger step towards gender equality.

In essence, I agree with Louis. My concern is less on equality but more on equity. Equality does not equate fairness and we have to account for the variation in expectations of familial responsibilities without slipping back into a status quo biased argument for the existing gendered roles. Some time back, I have argued for an expansion and reframing of Singapore’s system of parental leave by converting the last eight weeks of the mother’s maternity leave into shared parental leave (Loh, 2015a, 2015b). My intention is to signal the shared responsibility of both parents, specifically to include fathers right from the start of the child’s entry into the family as well as to encourage both parents to discuss and work out their domestic – which includes caregiving and housework – and work commitments. After all, achieving understanding and compromise through communication is an important factor in nudging a new normal of more equitable familial roles. While my proposal was not exactly taken up by policymakers in practice (shared parental leave has increased from one to four weeks since its introduction in 2013), the work-from-home situation brought about by a health crisis has instead short-circuited (no pun intended to the “circuit breaker”) another, otherwise more contentious, route towards shared responsibility.

Prior to the pandemic, the adoption of flexi-work arrangements, which includes work from home, has been particularly slow due to the expectations and value of face time at work and lack of support in normalising and formalising such arrangements (NPTD, 2017; Straughan & Tadai, 2016) that likely perpetuate a workplace culture which reinforces a perception that use of flexi-work arrangements may harm one’s career (Jones et al., 2008). Therefore, the “circuit breaker”-induced work-from-home arrangement circumvented the fears and resistance of both employers and employees as well as forcing a state-wide implementation of a work-from-home arrangement where applicable.

Despite the reported increase in family violence (CNA, 2020), the work-from-home arrangement is a progressive way forward as it jolts our patriarchally inclined assumptions and practice of familial roles. The sudden introduction of work-from-home arrangement surfaces strained spousal relations that were previously hidden and compels spouses to discuss about everyday familial responsibilities that were left undiscussed due to habit. It can be liberating and refreshing for some but emotionally detrimental and even potentially life-threatening for others. However, rather than allowing strained relations and domestic abuse to fester behind a curtain of choreographed avoidance, it is better to tackle it or get help as early as possible. Moreover, the increase in domestic violence would trigger alarm bells for government agencies and non-government organisations, like AWARE, to quickly address these newly emerged cases and sensitise their response and detection mechanisms.

Making a work-from-home arrangement an easily accessible option for all work roles that are suitable for such an arrangement would encourage pre-marriage couples to engage in a fairer family planning discussion with a lesser likelihood of feeling pressured to make greater compromises, for example, by sacrificing one’s career opportunities and assuming greater share of domestic responsibilities so that the spouse has the capacity to excel in work. Likewise, it can prevent fathers from missing out on spending quality time with their children and becoming more involved in the domestic sphere, thus potentially breaking the cycle of patriarchal familial roles. Similar to my proposal for the shared parental leave to be expanded, Louis’ proposal for legislating the right to work from home is not a panacea for gender equity. Nevertheless, both provide a route towards gender equity while at the same time placing the child as the focus. The time for a new normal in familial roles is long overdue but never too late.

References

ChannelNewsAsia [CNA]. (2020a, May). 22% increase in family violence reports since start of circuit breaker period: SPF. ChannelNewsAsia. Retrieved from https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/family-violence-domestic-abuse-police-reports-circuit-breaker-12731056

ChannelNewsAsia [CNA]. (2020b, October). Debate on strategy to emerge stronger from COVID-19: Louis Ng on legislating the right to work from home. ChannelNewsAsia. Retrieved from https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/parliament/videos/debate-on-strategy-to-emerge-stronger-from-covid-19-louis-ng-on-13286156

Jones, B. L., Scoville, D. P., Hill, E. J., Childs, G., Leishman, J. M., & Nally, K. S. (2008). Perceived versus used workplace flexibility in Singapore: Predicting work-family fit. Journal of Family Psychology, 22(5), 774-783.

Loh, S. H. (2015a, March). Getting fathers more involved in raising children. TODAY. Retrieved from https://ipscommons.sg/getting-fathers-more-involved-in-raising-children/

Loh, S. H. (2015b, July). Give dads more work at home to boost birth rates. The Straits Times. Retrieved from https://ipscommons.sg/give-dads-more-work-at-home-to-boost-birth-rates/

National Population and Talent Division [NPTD]. (2017). Why work-life balance may not work in Singapore. Retrieved from https://www.population.sg/articles/why-worklife-balance-may-not-work-in-singapore

Straughan, P. T., & Tadai, M. E. (2016). Addressing the implementation gap in flexiwork policies: The case of part-time work in Singapore. Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources, 1-20.