Survey Finds That 31% of Respondents, 41% of Female Respondents Face Gender Discrimination at Work

For many workers, their grievances in the workplace have to do with a heavy workload, a demanding boss, or a co-worker who cuts his toenails next to them.

But many employees here have to deal with another, more serious type of injustice, one that has been around since the dawn of time.

Survey Finds That 31% of Respondents, 41% of Female Respondents Face Gender Discrimination at Work

Almost one in three Singaporeans here have faced gender discrimination in the workplace, according to a recent survey.

Only a small number of respondents who faced such discrimination reported it, but even then, only around half said satisfactory action was taken.

The survey was conducted by the Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCCI) and involved 384 respondents – over 65% of whom were women.

According to the SCCCI, most of the respondents were:

• between the ages of 41 and 60 (58.3%)
• married (67.7%)
• university graduates (82.6%)
• full-time employees (80.2%)
• professionals (32%)
• in managerial roles (27.3%)
• working in small-and medium-sized enterprises (39.6%) and multinational corporations (34.1%)

On Tuesday (30 March), SCCCI presented their findings at a media conference at the Trade Association Hub on Jurong Town Hall Road.

The survey found that 31% of respondents faced gender discrimination at work; this comprised 10% of male respondents and 41% of female respondents.

Only 12% of those who encountered gender discrimination reported it, none of them male respondents.

In addition, 36.6% of female respondents said they also experienced gender biases in interactions with customers, suppliers, and in networks, compared to 20.5% of male respondents.

A woman’s gender was also more likely to be a consideration for a promotion than a man’s (40.5% versus 11.%).

The most significant area of gender discrimination seemed to be in pay scale; 59.5% of female respondents reported a wage gap between the different genders for the same job compared to 19.7% for male respondents.

The survey concluded that female respondents were more affected by corporate culture and gender stereotypes than male respondents when it came to their career advancements.

Domestic Responsibilities Left to Women

While the survey found that male respondents work more hours a week than female respondents (28.3% of male respondents work 60 hours a week compared to 18.7% of female respondents), this could be due to the fact that most of the domestic responsibilities are left to women.

And this was reflected in the survey as well.

24.1% of female respondents said they bear more than 75% of this responsibility, compared to 12.6% of male respondents.

Half of female respondents said their ability to handle family and caregiving demands was a consideration in their employment choice, while only one in three male respondents said they took it into account.

As Ms Sun Xueling, Minister of State for Social and Family Development said in response to the findings, what we need to do is change our basic assumptions and notions about women’s role in society.

“In the workplace, we must recognise that women are equally as capable as men, have valuable contributions to share and can be inspirational leaders”, she said.

“At home, we must foster a more equal distribution of household and caregiving responsibilities and empower fathers to do their part for the family”.

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