Gender Stereotyping in Singapore

Gender stereotyping is a pertinent issue in today’s society. In this paper, I seek to explore the causes and effects of gender stereotyping and the various gender stereotypes that are present in Singapore literature. The focus would be on gender stereotyping in Singapore as portrayed in plays and short stories written by local authors.

Gender stereotyping applies across all echelons of society in Singapore. Across the world in countries both like and unlike Singapore, gender stereotyping is present and continues to be prevalent even in the modern and liberal societies that exist today.

Rationale

My rationale for exploring this issue is that it is an issue that has existed for an extended period of time and is a topic that is widely debated. By examining this issue in the context of Singapore and in Singaporean texts and novels, I hope to gain a deeper understanding as to what are the factors that contribute to gender stereotyping and to learn as a whole how gender stereotyping has affected the people in our society.

While other countries have women as their top leaders, it is ironic that in the Singapore parliament, less than 20% of the Members of Parliament are women. As women make up half of our society, it is imperative that they have a larger say in the decision making in Singapore.

Research questions

My research questions are:

1)      What are the factors that have lead to gender stereotyping?

2)      How do gender stereotypes impact society?

3)      To what extent does gender stereotyping affect the life of a person? Does ones’ social standing have any impact?

Definitions and clarifications

Stereotyping – the act of judging people based on stereotypes

Stereotype – societal characterisation that is generally accepted

Methodology

The research methodology that I am using involves a literature review of the selected primary texts in order to extract the main themes and issues that are prevalent in these texts. They will be read and analysed from different perspectives to gather information for use in the paper.  The information from the literature review and the analysis of the texts will be used to show the factors and the impact of gender stereotyping. These points would then be further verified through the use of selected secondary texts.