Women Across The Causeway Sense Gender Inequality

Singapore Diary By Massita Ahmad Massita Ahmad, Bernama's correspondent in Singapore shares her take on the republic capital city and its unique social narrative. SINGAPORE, Nov 15 (Bernama) -- While Singapore still offers good employment opportunities and far higher pay cheques compared across the Causeway, the republic's fairer sex remain pessimistic when comes to gender equality in the employment world. Though women in the republic have broke the glass ceiling in all sectors and believe they are treated equally within their organisation, yet deep inside many women believe gender inequality persists. Recruitment firm Randstad's global Workmonitor report for third quarter of 2016 delved into this highly debated topic of workplace gender equality. The report revealed that 81 percent of Singaporean employees, men and women, felt they were treated equally within their organisation. This percentage is comparable with the global average, though lower than both Hong Kong (85 percent) and even Malaysia (86 percent). It also gives an impression that everything is fine with the workplace gender equation, that is until one looks at the viewpoint of the different sexes on the matter. Only 77 percent female respondents felt they received equal treatment at their workplace compared with 86 percent of the other sex, a clear testament that women remain doubtful on how they were being treated in employment. That's not all, many believe gender inequality starts right from job application and continues even when it comes to promotions. Hence, it is not surprising that only 72 percent of the women agreed that both gender are equally supported when applying for a job or when asking for promotions compared with 80 percent of men. When comes to rewards 18 percent of employees surveyed felt both sexes were equally rewarded for the same positions, ranking closely with Hong Kong (81 percent), Malaysia (83 percent) and global employees (79 percent). Yet, the breakdown along the gender line indicate only 75 percent of the women opined that both sexes were equally rewarded for the same position while 87 percent of the men believed the rewards were the same for both gender. Country Director for Randstad Singapore, Jaya Dass noted that the findings indicated a huge divide between the sentiments of both sexes. Presumably the consternation shown by female employees in Singapore is probably due to their greater awareness on gender equality. "This awareness could come from the strong international exposure Singapore has in its day to day business environment. "It is important for organisations to take gender equality research into consideration when formulating their human resource strategies to ensure that their employer brand continues to attract and retain the talent they need to drive their businesses forward," added Dass. The Randstad Workmonitor was launched in the Netherlands in 2003 and now covers 34 countries around the world. The Workmonitor is published quarterly, making global trends in mobility visible over time. Randstad is one of the world's largest recruitment and human resource services providers. --BERNAMA