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SINGAPORE: For over 20 years, Mr John Heng Aik Piang's family of four has lived mainly on his wife's earnings, after the 46-year-old was left disabled after a traffic accident in 1989 and had to stop work as a sales executive.
Now, further tax relief is heading the family's way - Mr Heng's wife, Madam Lim Seok Poh, will be able to claim a S$2,000 tax relief for working as a laboratory assistant, after the government expanded the "wife relief" scheme, to include women supporting their husbands.
The "wife relief" - where males can claim the tax relief for supporting their non-working wives - will also be renamed to spouse relief, which observers said is a move in line with the growing status of women in the society.
"This is a departure from a patriarchal ideology standpoint," sociologist Paulin Tay Straughan opined. "We now recognise that in contemporary Singapore, in modern families, the notion of spouse relief is more appropriate."
The shift also reflects the changing reality in families.
Member of Parliament (MP) Halimah Yacob, for example, has seen 10 per cent more women sole breadwinners at her Meet-the-People's sessions now, as compared to three years before.
This increase could be due to men leaving the workforce because of retrenchment, retirement or medical reasons, she added.
"Increasingly, I'm also seeing cases where the wives are earning more than the husbands because they are more educated," Mdm Halimah said.
Official statistics bear testament to more women entering the workforce - the female resident labour force participation rate grew from 54.2 per cent in 2007 to 55.6 per cent in 2008, while that of males fell from 76.3 per cent to 76.1 per cent during the same period.
For the Year of Assessment 2008, 187,000 taxable taxpayers claimed wife relief and the amount of wife relief given was S$375 million.
While the expansion of spouse relief has been lobbied since 2007 - as reflected through letters to the newspapers - Mdm Halimah felt policy-makers were probably reluctant to move earlier as it may have given "a wrong signal that the men can stay at home while the women work".
Women's rights advocate Anamah Tan wondered how the new relief would apply.
"It is something to be grateful for, especially if the head of household has retired," she said. "But why should that not apply to a husband who has lost his job or is ill or stricken by any of the calamities that may befall a family member? I hope it covers all such difficulties."
Still, Singapore Council of Women's Organisation president Ann Tan felt the expansion of spousal relief is "a definite breakthrough for women" and "ranks as highly" as automatic citizenship for children of Singapore women born overseas and the equal medical benefits for male and female civil servants.
Dr Tan feels that this relief could be extended to Medisave. The working spouse could consider Medisave contribution for the non-working spouse "so that both will have access to health care in a more equitable manner ... without any increase in CPF contributions".
Noting the modernisation of the Singapore Armed Forces to an "intelligent army", Associate Professor Straughan felt women should be given the option to choose if they want to do National Service.
"This is one area we have left it solely to the males of Singapore. If you want to really to talk of levelling up or an even playing field, it is not just, 'Men have these goodies, women want them too'. We, also as women, must talk about responsibility."
Asked when she envisaged such a move would likely take place, Associate Prof Straughan, a Nominated Member of Parliament, feels Singapore women are "ready now".
"It is just whether the military is ready for them," she said.
"It does shift dynamics in BMT training. But given we have a problem with manpower, and our low birth rate, it may not be something we may delay for too long."
- TODAY/sc
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