Sexism in Local Politics

RE: Judge on ability, not gender, says Hwee Hua


There is something impotent about females complaining about sexism in this day and age.

It would have been more convincing if a MALE minister had stepped up to rebut the 'sexist' comments going on.

Perhaps, there is really no sexism going on, coz you don't hear people criticising the ability or credibility of Minister Lim Hwee Hua, Dr Intan, Sylvia Lim, or the Singapore's first ever female minister, Dr Seet Ai Mei (until she washed her hand after shaking that of a fishmonger during the election period in 1991 and lost her seat).

Clockwise from top left: Current Minister Lim Hwee Hua, PAP candidate Dr Intan, Chairman of Workers Party Sylvia Lim, and former Minister Seet Ai Mei.

Perhaps this is how Minister Lim Hwee Hua views any criticism on females.

Perhaps the male PAP ministers agree with the sexist comments, i.e. remember Minister Lim Hng Kiang's remark on hairdos when Dr Lily Neo raised the issue of breast screening in Parliament?
At that point, Dr Lily Neo used to sport a slick salon-finished hairdo for every Parliament session.
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My take is that gender discrimination permeates every atom, isotope, electron in our society. It's everywhere. Let's not kid ourselves.

But due to the unevenly informed mass consciousness, discrimination may work for and against the female, and even the male. It all depends on the context.

In general, people are more stringent when assessing the attributes of females getting into positions of power. This is because people learn and make decisions based on patterns. Pattern recognition is the involuntary method used by most people to help them differentiate between 'right' and 'wrong'. If all the previous leaders have been male, then it is 'not correct' and gets uncomfortable when a female attempts to take over.

Hence, in the same vein, if a Female Candidate has commonplace achievements, she is likely to be slighted more than a Male Candidate with the same commonplace achievements for trying to get into a position of power. In addition to male resistance, there is a transparent but thick and stubborn film of self-loathing by other females.

But the current level and characteristics of gender discrimination does not prevent female candidates with solid/extraordinary credentials from gaining support. In fact, when such a female candidate appears, she gets more support than a male candidate of the same great credentials. And this support comes from both male and female supporters. Most interestingly, females will start to raise their hands firmly in agreement, citing 'I am supporting another female" as reason.

This reminds of a hilarious but true comment by a lawyer friend recently,"There is no way I can run for the elections, I'm a Chinese man without a President's Scholarship."
No Unique Selling Point whatsoever. Stuck in the murky middle. =)

As for sexualisation of female candidates, this is not the sole 'suffering' of female candidates. It happens for male candidates too, especially within the gay community and on gay discussion forums.
But this ain't a bad thing... At least, some may vote for you if they find you a turn-on. That's a happy ending, no?