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SINGAPORE: Are we ready for a Hillary Clinton in Singapore? This was the topic of discussion at an inaugural series organised by the Association of Women for Action and Research (Aware) on Wednesday.
My question is: Should we have a woman prime minister or president because they are women — or should we be gender blind when it comes to such matters?
In a society where we pride ourselves on true equality and meritocracy, we have to be gender blind on such matters. Otherwise, we run the risk of putting people who are not good enough in jobs for the sake of having them there. And such measures are not progressive for any society.
The repercussion of such decisions surfaced in the United Kingdom earlier this week, when Tory leader David Cameron pledged to give a third of his jobs in his first government to women.
In an almost paradoxical stance, he said he did not want women politicians to be "window dressing" but to influence decisions affecting women's lives. Rightly so, this caused an uproar among women who felt the move could backfire if the women were seen as not getting the positions based on merit.
Just ask any independent woman who has worked very hard to earn her spurs in life — she certainly doesn't want to be given any such "breaks". In fact, I would be thoroughly insulted if someone told me that my successes in life (small ones albeit) were handouts; as all my working life, I have been and still am a woman in a man's world.
Across the globe, talkshow host Oprah Winfrey has come under fire by women fans for backing male candidate Barack Obama instead of female candidate Hillary Clinton. This choice has incurred the wrath of her women supporters. Should Ms Winfrey have backed Ms Clinton in the guise of sisterhood and not gone with her heart and gut — which are with Obama?
Ms Winfrey did the right thing and I admire her for that. She did it at the expense of her popularity among the female supporters who made her one of the world's richest women today. Will her fans move away from her? Will her show lose ratings? No one can tell as it is still early days. But she won't lose my vote for sure.
This is what we, as women, have to understand before we begin lobbying for a woman prime minister in Singapore. We also have to take into account our political and social systems.
Unlike the American system, our prime minister is picked by the Cabinet and no one individual man or woman can stand up and say they want to run for office.
Socially, we are still a patriarchal society where the man is still seen as the head of the household. While this thinking seems to have shifted on some fronts, we have a long way to go in changing mindsets. However, to me, it is more important that we find the right person for the job rather than the right woman.
And as history has shown, women heads of state are not an anomaly.
The very first woman to become a prime minister was back in 1960 in Sri Lanka. Even before these gender politics issues surfaced, Ms Sirimavo Bandaranaike paved the way for women politicians. Since then, there have been more than 50 elected women heads of state. A paltry number, some may say ... but that's debatable.
Some of these women leaders were highly controversial. Some followed their fathers and husbands into office. In the case of India's Indira Gandhi it was dynasty politics. With Corazon Aquino, the death of her husband gave her the sympathy vote among Filipinos.
We certainly don't want our women to go that way.
Happily most female leaders, such as Britain's Margaret Thatcher and Germany's Angela Merkel, were appointed based on their own political mettle and merit. That is the model we should emulate for Singapore.
By the end of the year, we will know if America will have its first woman president. Yes, while I will pop the champagne for a fellow woman, I hope she is the right person to run America.
As we progress, and as we embrace diversity and change with every generation, I would like to create a new generation of women for the future. One that will not ask the question "Are we ready for a Hillary Clinton" — but will question the need for such a question at all.
The writer, who has a doctorate in business management, started her career in journalism in 1988, before joining Ngee Ann Polytechnic in 1991. She served as editor of Tamil Murasu and headed a public relations firm before joining MediaCorp. - TODAY/fa
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