SINGAPOREAN DAUGHTERS: THE INTEGRATION OF FEMALES IN THE SINGAPORE ARM FORCES

Abstract

In Singapore, where security and defence are perennial issues, the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) is a huge cornerstone of our society and has a huge influence in shaping the national culture. Participation and visibility of women in SAF is symptomatic of the social dynamics of the Singapore society. Despite recruiting females since 1986, there is still a lack of integration of females into the SAF, which inhibits progress of women into the higher echelons. In response to this, my thesis seeks to understand the barriers to integration that women face in the SAF. I approach this issue at 2 levels—structural and personal. On the structural level, I attempt to understand the organizational structure and its approach to gender through its policies that inherently affects the resources and opportunities for female soldiers. On the personal level, the qualitative inquiry that I have engaged in aims to analyse the grounded experience of individual female soldiers to understand the personal interactions and relations that influence the workplace integration. I suggest using gendered frameworks such as Acker’s gendered organizational theory and Huppatz’s gendered capital to analyse the two levels. This qualitative inquiry concludes that the delayed integration of women in the SAF is attributed mainly to the unchanging mindsets that shape the relations with their peers rather than just structural gendered barriers.