Discrimination in Singapore

Does discrimination arising from stereotypes exist in Singapore?

Singaporean has always pride itself on being fair to all and that meritocracy is practiced in all fields. However, Singaporeans still discriminates.

A common stereotype in Singapore is the stereotyping of older people in the society. Older people are often thought to be slower and are less willing to learn new things and so are less economically productive. Many companies in Singapore discriminate against older people who work in their companies. When they reach an age of 62, the official retirement age, the companies will negotiate a new pay and benefit package with them. More often than not, their workload remains the same while they take a pay cut of up to 20 percent. Besides that, they also start to work on a contract-based and not as a permanent staff. Therefore, their benefits are also reduced drastically. However, not all older people are slow and unwilling to learn new things. An example is the older workers at old chang kee. According to the boss of old chang kee, he hired older people as they are as willing to learn as the younger staff. They are also less likely to switch jobs unlike the younger staff.

Ms Wang recounted an incident where a male doctor expected her to cry when she was given some bad news just because she is a woman. The stereotypes of women still exist in Singapore today. Likewise, a woman is also stereotype to be less committed to work if they have children. This resulted in women being asked by their prospective employer about their plans to marry if they are single and to have children if they are married. Although many companies claim they do not discriminate against women, why than do they ask these type of questions in the first place. Women who are pregnant are also faced with the risk of being sacked.

In conclusion, discrimination arising from stereotypes still exists in Singapore.

chee Ying