“Talking Point(s)”: What Singaporean Female Politicians Choose to Say in Parliament

Abstract

This paper investigates the implications of women’s underrepresentation in politics in relation to the kinds of issues they raise in Parliament. It has two objectives. First it raises the question of whether the current cohort of female MPs in Singapore has different political interests from their male colleagues, and second, it seeks to understand the larger concern of whether female MPs see their role in politics to be different from that of men’s. Through an investigation of the kinds of issues female and male MPs have raised and discussed in Parliament, the paper argues that because the current cohort of female MPs operate within a paradigm that is masculine, they tend not to voice their opinion exclusively on issues thought to belong traditionally to the domain of women but rather on a range of issues. By not restricting themselves to discussing women’s issues only, it is evident that these women have consciously chosen to demonstrate that they are equal to men and they are capable of handling any issue. Among Singaporean female MPs, there is an implicit understanding that they were voted in based on their capacity to contribute and serve the community to fulfil the goals of their respective parties rather than on their gender identity.