时代已经改变了。
It used to be wife relief, where husbands can claim tax allowances for their non-working wives; now it’s spouse relief, where both husbands and wives can claim tax allowances for their low income spouse. How times have changed. Welcome to the new world, where women are now seeking to be on par with men.
All along, women have been deemed as the weaker sex. Due to traditional perception and, most of the time, physically weaker, women are regarded as vulnerable persons and are often portrayed as victims of the society, from having lower social status, to being victims of family violence and crimes such as molestation. Females are considered as vulnerable financially as well, due to lower education and the fact that some of them gave up their incomes for their families. All these have led to the need to protect females in the society. Hence, the birth of various law seeking redress for women, including the local Women Charter.
Recent years, however, have brought changes in mindset. As a result of a maturing society and increasing level of education for females, women now enjoy a higher social status than before. Many corporates today have female bosses, while female leaders are found many countries, for example Angela Merkel (President of Germany). Even US has 3 female Secretary of State in her history and is quite close in getting a female president (Hilary Clinton).
Roles of women in families seem to undergo subtle transformation as well. In the past, most women knew how to cook and it’s women who stayed at home to take care of their families. But females who do not know how to cook seem to be the norm these days. Many of them carry on working after having kids, with some of them having higher incomes than their spouse and a few of them are the sole breadwinners of the family. The emergence of househusbands, or better known as 企鹅爸爸, shows how time has changed. Whereas in the past there would be quizzing looks, in today’s world, it is not that unusual for women to bring home the bread. Many husbands help out in the house as well.
Besides, women these days are now more equipped to protect themselves and sometimes may be “too well equipped”. Not too long ago, protection orders seemed to be a shield for abused wives to seek protection against violent husbands, but there have also been reports that there are men who had sought protection against violent wives. How times have changed.
Given the trend, does it mean that men and women today are more equal and men today are more vulnerable than they are in the past? Well, certain pockets of society certainly think so and are advocating equality in law for protection for men, just like what their female counterparts have. Singapore government has recognised this trend as well, and introduced spouse relief for tax allowance, in place of wife relief. I think it is only fair for women to claim relief for unemployed/low-income husbands if men can do so for their wives. Though, in my opinion, the change is a bit late, it speaks volume of the change of roles of women in families in Singapore today.
With the introduction of spouse relief, what will be next? According to Today, there have been suggestions for divorced women to pay alimony to their ex-husbands in the future, subject to some conditions (eg disabled ex-husbands). Well this happen? I guess it’s a matter of time, before more law passed to place men and women on a more equal footing. Singapore is still predominately a traditional Asian society with the men-stronger-than women mindset, despite being more open in the recent times. It will take some time, before Singaporeans accept that both women and men are really that equal.
Time to allow men to claim?
Opinions differ as to whether a woman should provide alimony to her ex-husband
by Alicia Wong
09:10 AM Mar 22, 2010
SINGAPORE – With a recent tax revision recognising that women can be breadwinners, should a woman then provide alimony to her ex-husband under the appropriate circumstances?
From next month, women who support their husbands will be allowed to claim tax relief. Previously, only husbands supporting their wives could do so.
Lawyers MediaCorp spoke to said this signals a recognition that women do support their husbands, but were divided on whether this could, or should, lead to men being able to claim spousal maintenance.
Family lawyer and women’s rights advocate Dr Anamah Tan said since the tax revision recognises that “it’s all right” for the wife to support her husband, “why not such a gender-equal attitude” to maintenance?
Under the Women’s Charter, only women can claim spousal maintenance. But either parent who has care and control of a child can claim child maintenance.
“It’s only fair” that house husbands get maintenance, Dr Tan said. Although not the majority, quite a number of women are earning more than men. More and more women who divorce also don’t want maintenance now “because they are economically viable”, she said.
In her early years, she refused to act for men as “women were always getting the short end of the stick”. But Dr Tan has seen a change over the past 10 years and takes “a lot more” male clients now.
She has seen about three cases involving house husbands over the past seven years and believes the numbers will increase.
Family lawyer and Member of Parliament (MP) Ellen Lee sees the tax change as the Government possibly recognising the rising numbers of husbands who do not work.
But tax relief is not the platform that would lead to men being able to claim spousal maintenance, said Ms Lee, whose views were echoed by family lawyer Yap Teong Liang.
Other than the need for society to break out of the traditional belief that a man should be breadwinner, there may not be enough men needing maintenance for the law to be changed, said Mr Yap.
But then the numbers may seem small if men are not stepping up – because they do not have the option of asking for maintenance.
The courts could check if a wife’s income supersedes that of her husband’s. But in his experience, this only happens 20 to 30 per cent of the time.
Earlier this month, Ms Lee called for a “substance change” in the Women’s Charter to uphold equality for men and women, since more men are dating or marrying higher-earning women and more men now work from home and care for children,.
But she told MediaCorp that a man should only be allowed to claim spousal maintenance if he is genuinely unable to work, for instance, if he is disabled or ill. Or, as Dr Tan put it, if the claimant is “not a wastrel”.
The MP felt that any change would take another 10 years.
Dr Tan said it could be “sooner than what you think”.
She recently helped a house husband get care and control of his three children.
Fathers are being encouraged by the Government to be more involved in the family now and this may lead to more fathers choosing to become home fathers.
Compared to five years ago, Mr Yap has seen a 50 per cent increase in fathers – some of whom are working – fighting for care and control of their children.
“But it’s still an uphill task,” he said.
Generally, however, very few men have care and control of their child, industry experts say.
The idea of allowing men to claim spousal maintenance was first floated in Parliament in 1996. This time, Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports Vivian Balakrishnan said society is still not ready to abandon the “key principle” that women still need protection.
(http://www.todayonline.com/Hotnews/EDC100322-0000002/Time-to-allow-men-to-claim?)