ES2007 Survey Report (Final)

A Study of NUS Students’ Opinions Towards the Compulsory Enlistment of Females in National Service To: Ministry of Defence Feedback Unit From: Mr. Chong Wai Yin (U021758Y) Miss Chua Li Min (U022507E) Mr. Wong Chee Keong Benjamin (U021945N) Faculty of Science Block S16 Level 9, 6 Science Drive 2, Singapore 117546 National University of Singapore Dated on 4th October 2004. -i-

Table of contents LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS .........................................................................................III EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ............................................................................................ IV 1. INTRODUCTION..................................................................................................... 1 1.1 BACKGROUND...................................................................................................... 1 1.2 OBJECTIVES ......................................................................................................... 2 1.3 SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS ..................................................................................... 2 2. METHOD .................................................................................................................. 3 3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS ............................................................................. 4 3.1 FOR OR AGAINST COMPULSORY NATIONAL SERVICE FOR FEMALES ..................... 4 3.2 PERCEPTION OF GENDER EQUALITY AND NATIONAL SERVICE AS AN ACT OF PATRIOTISM AMONG RESPONDENTS.................................................................................. 5 3.3 REASONS FOR THE NOTION OF COMPULSORY NATIONAL SERVICE FOR FEMALES 9 3.4 HOW SHOULD NATIONAL SERVICE BE IMPLEMENTED FOR FEMALES .................. 11 3.5 REASONS AGAINST THE NOTION OF COMPULSORY NATIONAL SERVICE FOR FEMALES ........................................................................................................................ 13 4. CONCLUSIONS ..................................................................................................... 16 5. RECOMMENDATIONS........................................................................................ 17 6. APPENDIX.............................................................................................................. 18 6.1 SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE ................................................................................... 18 - ii -

List of illustrations Table 1: Number of female and male respondents who either agree or disagree with the notion of compulsory National Service for females ……………………………………4 Figure 1: Views of male and female respondent towards gender equality, with respect to compulsory National Service. …………………………………………………………. .5 Figure 2: Views of male and female respondents towards National Service being an act of patriotism, with respect to being made compulsory for females. ……………………7 Figure 3: Various reasons the respondents chose for agreeing that National Service be made compulsory to females. ……………………………………………………………9 Figure 4: Various sectors that a female can be enlisted into for her National Service stint………………………………………………………………………………………11 Figure 5: Various reasons against the implementation of compulsory National Service for females. ………………………………………………………………………………….13 - iii -

Executive summary The sovereignty of a nation is of the utmost importance, especially for a small nation like Singapore. The classical mindset of defending the sovereignty of any country is through the use of military forces by males, and hence it is by no surprise that most citizens and permanent residents of Singapore would have thought so too. However with the advancement in technologies, knowledge and intelligence of the global population, war need no longer be limited to the classical battlefield. As such, the defence of Singapore must encompass other critical areas such as her economical and social defence. In fact Singapore had already foreseen such an imminent trend that the government had by 1984 introduced the concept of ‘Total Defence’ where the defence of Singapore includes psychological, social, economic, civil and military defence regardless of race or gender. Nonetheless the ‘Total Defence’ concept is not law enforcing, unlike the ‘National Service Enlistment Act’ since the 1960s where all Singaporean males are born with the responsibility of military defence of the nation. National Service (NS) hence has long been regarded as a male’s responsibility and is deeply rooted to military defence. Our report therefore reviews the possibility of extending compulsory NS to females in the context of ‘Total Defence’, in particular to civil defence. As such NS is defined as providing service to the nation and is not limited to military defence, so that the compulsory participation of females in NS can strengthen the defence of Singapore through any of the five elemental defences as depicted in the ‘Total Defence’ concept. An online survey was conducted for the undergraduates in the National University of Singapore (NUS), where a total of 99 undergraduates who were either citizens or permanent residents of Singapore responded. The survey was used to determine their responses towards compulsory NS for females, to help us determine if the implementation of compulsory NS is plausible. - iv -

Only 30% of the respondents were for the notion of compulsory NS for females, of which more than half of the responses came from males. In general males whom believed in either gender equality or NS being an act of patriotism were in favour of compulsory NS for females, which was confirmed what we had expected. However, females tend to disagree on the same notion even though they believe in either gender equality or NS being an act of patriotism. Thus we believed that females were still very much inclined to think that NS is male or military-orientated especially since only 9% of female respondents were for the notion of compulsory NS for females. Henceforth based on the response from the 99 undergraduates and especially the female respondents, NS should not be made compulsory to females even though this is a potentially large pool of manpower that the nation can tap on for her defence. However making NS optional for females (which 40% of the respondents who were against compulsory NS for females voted for and was the highest voted reason among other reasons against compulsory NS), does not guarantee that a considerable number of females will voluntarily enlist themselves into NS. According to our survey, potential physical or mental stress can be a hindrance to the fairer sex from engaging actively in NS. Therefore the Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) has to be proactive in recruiting female personals for NS. Based on the reasons that were against compulsory NS from our survey, MINDEF can provide posts that are not physically or mentally demanding. In fact MINDEF could liase with the Ministry of Health (MOH) in training females into nurses or paramedics, which was what almost 80% of the respondents who were for the notion of compulsory NS thought that females should engage in as their NS activity. This not only strengthens the nation’s civil defence capability in times of emergency, but indirectly strengthens our military defence as well. Perhaps the most important issue that MINDEF has to tackle to increase the females’ role in national defence is to change the mindset of the nation and especially the females. Through media or campaigns MINDEF can inculcate the idea that national defence is not -v-

restricted to males or military activities alone, but equally as important are the females’ role especially in ‘Total Defence’ and the need for NS even for females. National Service must be portrayed as an honour in serving the nation and not a waste of time or loss of freedom as a considerable percentage of respondents who were against compulsory NS for females felt. It eventually leads to what and how NS should be for females who are willing to take the first step in contributing to the nation’s defence. From approximately 30% of the respondents who were for the notion of compulsory NS for females, they felt that females should be trained in nursing, as it is one area that suits the capability of the females aptly. Females from the age of 18 can be recruited where their training and service could span a year and a half to two years. A moderate training period is crucial as too long a period might affect their contributions to the economy as a working class as well as their marriage prospects (which a handful of the respondents who were against compulsory NS for female were worried about). However, reservist for females should not be abandoned but shortened to about five cycles as a respondent had feedback to us, since re-training can sharpen the females’ skills and knowledge in nursing. Last but not least, NS allowance for females must be on par with their male counterparts or more benefits can be given to attract females, such as longer maternity leave. Overall, the situation in Singapore does not allow for the implementation of compulsory NS for females, but is rather more suited for making it optional for females instead. As such, we have highlighted a few important areas that MINDEF can concentrate on when it comes to attracting more females into the national defence of Singapore, one of the most important being changing the mindset of the people. It is only then that females can be effectively mobilised in times of needs, and help further strengthen Singapore’s defence in this dynamic world. - vi -

1. Introduction 1.1 Background When Singapore became an independent nation in 1965, building a credible defence force became one of her top priorities. As a result, compulsory national service (NS) was introduced in 1967. Since then, all Singaporean males, upon reaching the age of 18, had to serve compulsory military service for 2 years. Over the years, public perception of national service has greatly become limited to only the military sector. In order for Singapore to survive and thrive in an increasingly global environment, we feel that Singaporeans should embrace the other aspects of total defence such as economic, social and civil defence, in addition to military defence. Since females represent half of the Singapore population, they too have the potential to make significant contributions to the nation in the other forms of national service other than just the military aspect of it. The idea of enlisting females into NS is also not novel. At the time when NS was introduced, the then Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew had also argued for NS for women too. Recently, several female MPs (member of Parliament) such as Mrs Lim Hwee Hua (Marine Parade GRC) and Nominated MPs Jennifer Lee and Braema Mathi, among others have also suggested enlisting females in NS to help solve the manpower shortage problem in SAF. Hence prompted by these suggestions, we decided to investigate views of current NUS undergraduates on enlisting females in NS in our survey and in our survey we have also defined national service to be a means of providing service to Singapore that is not limited to only the military sector, but also covers other areas such as the health and education sectors. -1-

1.2 Objectives Our report studies the views of current local NUS undergraduates towards the enlistment of females in national service. It investigates whether NUS undergraduates are supportive or unsupportive of the compulsory enlistment of females in national service. Another objective of our study is to evaluate the reasons behind the opinions of NUS students. If the majority of respondents feel that national service should be made compulsory for females in Singapore, we may consider submitting a formal report to the Ministry of Defence for their perusal. We also set out to test a few of our hypothesis regarding the issue of compulsory NS for females namely: 1) Both male and female respondents who believe in gender equality should also support the notion of compulsory NS for females and vice versa. 2) Respondents who view NS as an act of patriotism might be in general more amenable to the notion of compulsory NS for females. 3) For respondents agreeing to the notion of compulsory NS for females, a larger portion of females might choose the option that females can take as much hardship as males as their reason for supporting this notion. 4) Lastly for respondents who disagree with compulsory NS for females, most female respondents might give reasons of NS being too stressful physically and mentally as well as wanting NS to be made optional instead for their stand. 1.3 Scope and Limitations Our report focuses on the opinions of 99 NUS students towards the enlistment of females in national service. Due to a lack of time and resources, we were unable to survey more NUS students. Therefore, this small sample may not be representative of the NUS student population, which amounts to 32000. Due to the nature of our survey, we have -2-

limited our respondents to students who are Singaporeans or permanent residents, as they have the necessary background knowledge of national service in Singapore. 2. Method The primary research method used to collect data for our report was a survey. We designed an online survey questionnaire and e-mailed the website address to selected NUS students. A combination of two sampling techniques, systemic sampling and stratified random sampling, was used to collect standardized data for our report. We performed systemic sampling by selecting every tenth student listed in the NUS e-mail address book. However, in order to reduce gender bias, we sent the e-mail to an equal proportion of male and female students. As we only wanted respondents who are Singaporeans or permanent residents, we excluded international students from our mailing list. These additional steps taken are examples of stratified random sampling. Our survey is an analytical one that examines the social attitudes of NUS students towards the enlistment of females in national service. For respondents who felt that national service should be made compulsory for females, we proceeded to investigate the reasons why they felt females should be enlisted. For respondents who felt that national service should not be made compulsory for females, we set out to investigate their views on why females should not be enlisted. A mixture of open-ended and close-ended questions was used in our survey questionnaire. Our close-ended questions were divided into two categories – either-or questions and checklists. For our checklist questions, we limited the maximum number of choices to two so as to identify any dominant trends. Open-ended questions were placed at the end of the survey so that respondents could give additional comments or suggestions. -3-

3. Results and Discussions The survey seeks to determine the views of current NUS undergraduates on the issue of possible implementation of compulsory NS for all females who are either citizens or permanent resident of Singapore. Briefly, we consolidated data on their perspective of gender equality and their perceptions of NS as an act of national patriotism to elucidate how the current generation view both issues. Subsequently, we tried to relate these views with respect to their agreement or disagreement with the notion of compulsory NS for females to find out if there were any prominent trends. In addition, we present herein their views on the type of NS scheme that should be implemented for females, as well as the raison d'être taken up by the respondents either for or against the notion of compulsory NS for females. 3.1 For or against compulsory National Service for females A total of 99 NUS undergraduates who were either citizens or permanent residents of Singapore responded to our online survey, of which 53 were females and 46 were males. National service be made compulsory for females Agree Disagree Total Females 5 48 53 Males Total 24 22 46 29 70 99 Table 1: Number of female and male respondents who either agree or disagree with the notion of compulsory National Service for females. Only approximately 29% of the respondents agreed to the notion of compulsory NS for females, of which the majority came from the male respondents with 82.8% of the total agreement votes. On the contrary, female respondents formed the bulk of the total disagreement votes at 68.6%. Interestingly, slightly over half of the male respondents (52%) thought that females should be compulsorily enlisted into NS, while only about -4-

9% of the females thought likewise (Table 1). An analysis of why they voted for or against the notion of compulsory NS will be presented in the later parts of this section. 3.2 Perception of gender equality and National Service as an act of patriotism among respondents Figure 1: Views of male and female respondent towards gender equality, with respect to compulsory National Service. Figure 1 suggests that there is a correlation between the perceptions of gender equality and compulsory NS for females. Less than half of the males (42%) who believed in gender equality voted against compulsory National Service for females. However the percentage against compulsory NS was increased to 75% in males whose perceptions were against gender equality. This indicates that male respondents tend to disagree with compulsory NS for females, if they did not believe in gender equality. This indication is however less pronounced in the female sample population. All of the females who disagreed to gender equality did not want to participate in National Service, while only 15% of them agreed to do so if they believed in gender equality. -5-

A deviation is therefore noted from our initial hypothesis. Originally, we expected respondents (both male and female) who believed in gender equality to support the notion of compulsory NS for females and those who did not to object to this notion. This is because we expected the group of people who believe in gender equality and hence who believe that both genders have equal status and rights in society, to agree that both sexes should share the responsibility of serving the nation through NS, similar to what the male citizens of Singapore are required to do so now. Through this survey, we found that this hypothesis applied for 58 % of males and only 15 % of females who believed in gender equality. Comparing both males and females who responded positively to gender equality, females tended to resist the notion of compulsory NS with 85% of them casting objection votes, as compared to only 42% for males. A possible reason could be due to the common perception that most people have of NS currently: its strong relation to physical strength and brawn, even though we had defined NS to be service to the nation that was not limited to only military services earlier on to the respondents in the survey introduction. Therefore this reason could be why most, especially females disagreed with compulsory NS even though they believed in gender equality. A large number might have felt that with the current NS scheme: basic military training and subsequent military assignments might be too tough for females to partake in, and hence the high number of disagreement votes. We feel that if the current NS scheme is modified to a new and separate scheme for females taking into consideration the physical limitations that they have, and yet providing them with the opportunity to serve the nation as well, a significantly higher number of agreement votes might come from females believing in gender equality as well. To further explore the reasons youths might have for the notion against compulsory NS, we also designed a question pertaining to this and results are presented (in section 3.5). For both males and females who did not believe in gender equality, the trend was as we predicted, with very high proportions (100% of females and 75% of males) objecting to -6-

compulsory NS for females. We also expect that out of all the males who agreed to compulsory NS for females, a small number of them might have voted so because of their displeasure at only males serving NS, a sign of unfairness to them. Nonetheless, some of the reasons both sexes might have for supporting the notion of compulsory NS will be explored and presented in section 3.3. Figure 2: Views of male and female respondents towards National Service being an act of patriotism, with respect to being made compulsory for females. Two general trends can be observed from figure 2. For the male respondents, majority (76%) of those whom agreed with NS as an act of patriotism also agreed that NS should be made compulsory for females. The reverse is true where 88% of the male respondents who were against such an idea disagreed to the notion of compulsory NS for females. Female respondents also exhibited another seemingly similar trend. Similar to trends observed for male respondents, females’ views on agreeing to compulsory National Service depended on their perception for or against NS as an act of patriotism. Nevertheless as depicted in figure 2, only 24% of the males who agreed to NS as a -7-

patriotic act chose to vote against compulsory National service, which is much lower than its female counterpart at 71%. Therefore, female respondents have a much higher inertia when it comes to agreeing to compulsory NS for females, as compared to the male respondents. One of the possible reasons as to why 71 % of females who agreed to NS as a sign of patriotism were against the notion of compulsory NS for females could be because they felt that other than serving NS, there were other ways in which they could also be patriotic to the country and contribute as well, such as contributing to the economic development of Singapore. National Service, which currently helps and ensures the total defence of our nation, is just one way in which females could contribute. For males, this percentage of disagreeing to compulsory NS despite seeing it as a patriotic act was comparatively much lower, at 24 %. This could be due to the fact that males having been through the classical military-based NS know how the system operates and what it requires and thus can identify other ways in which females can help in serving NS, possibly by doing less military-related or tedious work. One reason a male respondent gave for his stand on compulsory NS for females was that by training females in a non-military but equally important context such as first aid, females could also in the process pick up essential survival skills that could put to good use if an emergency develops. Conversely, there was a high percentage of male respondents who believed in compulsory NS for females as well as NS being a sign of patriotism and we felt they could have chosen this option simply because of their connotations of patriotism with total defence. To them, showing loyalty to the country might point towards actively participating in the defence of the country (to show that they care) rather than in other sectors, which is why they probably felt that females should also have a share in defending the nation as Singaporeans. -8-

3.3 Reasons FOR the notion of compulsory National Service for females Figure 3: Various reasons the respondents chose for agreeing that National Service be made compulsory to females. Keys: ‘Op’ refers to ‘Option’ Op1: Since they are Singaporean, and thus should also do a part for the country. Op2: Show others that females can take as much hardship as males. Op3: Provide equal opportunity for both sexes to serve the nation, and to reinforce gender equality. Op4: Foster a sense of belonging and identity towards Singapore. Op5: Both sexes from the same age group can compete at the same age platform when they graduate from tertiary education at the same time. Op6: Play an active role in national defence against terrorism. A total of 29 out of 99 NUS undergraduates who were citizens or permanent residents of Singapore agreed that NS should be made compulsory to females (Table 1). They were asked to provide the best two reasons from a list of six options, as indicated in the survey questionnaire in the appendix. The reasons for making such an option were analysed and presented in figure 3. Interestingly, the top reason that both genders (30% for both -9-

genders) chose was to provide an equal opportunity for both genders to serve the nation, while enforcing gender equality at the same time (option 3 in figure 3). Choosing option 3 as the most popular reason implies that both genders may feel that females also have the potential and ability to serve the nation and that the government should tap into this valuable resource as well. This is in accordance with the significant number of females (20 % in all) choosing option 2 (Show others that females can take as much hardship as males). Hence this also means that females are also willing to serve the nation actively. Surprising, only 2 % of males chose this same option, and this could be because most males felt that females were not as well built and strong as them and hence could not withstand tough training if subjected to the same training programme. We expected more of females to choose option 2, as some might want to prove that the common stereotyping of females as “weak and meek” wrong. Another 30% of female respondents also viewed that all Singaporeans should have a role in providing services to the nation, and not only be limited to the males (option 1 in figure 3). It is interesting to note that option 1 was also one of the more popular (18.8%) answers from male respondents on their reasons for wanting compulsory NS to be implemented for females. It could stem from the fact that they felt that it should only be fair that females as citizens of Singapore should also be responsible in serving the nation instead of only males. Another reason why they probably chose this option is because most of them do not really see females contributing much to the development of the country in other ways and thus feel that NS is one avenue in which they could actively serve the nation. However, this being more of a narrow-minded view might apply to only a small portion of male respondents. The second most selected reason for the males were for the females to foster a sense of belonging and identity towards Singapore through NS, which accounts for 22.9% (option 4 in figure 3). At the same time, we also found that option 5 (Both sexes from the same age group can compete at the same age platform when they graduate from tertiary education at the same time) was also chosen by considerable number of male respondents - 10 -

(as compared to female respondents) and this was as predicted as male respondents in general might be unhappy with the fact that due to serving NS, they are 2 years behind their female counterparts when it comes to working and the earning of a university degree. Hence to the males, NS for females (if the same type of NS scheme was implemented) would make the females be on par with them. 3.4 How should National Service be implemented for females Figure 4: Various sectors that a female can be enlisted into for her National Service stint. The 29 respondents (consisting of 24 males and 5 females) who agreed that females should be enlisted were asked on which service sectors should the females served, as well as the duration, and the time when should they be enlisted among others. Close to 80% of the 29 respondents thought that the females should serve NS in the healthcare sector such as being medics or nurses. There were an equal percentage of respondents that chose the military sector, education sector such as being kindergarten teachers and the government sector (at 7% each). This is inline with the fact that 65% of our respondent felt that females should not take up physically demanding posts while in NS. - 11 -

Almost all the respondents (27 out of 29 who agreed on compulsory NS) felt that females should be enlisted at the age of 18 to 19 years old, with two other respondents choosing the option at 20 to 21 years of age. The ideal duration of NS for females was chosen to be for two years for 62% of the respondents, while another 31% preferred it to be one year. Approximately 86% of the respondents thought that the allowances given to the females for their services should be on par with those of the males, while the rest felt that females should receive lower allowances than males. Last but not the least, approximately 59% of the respondents felt that females should be liable for reservist after their National Service stint. One reason why both males and females voted to have females enlisted in the healthcare sector in NS is probably due to the difference in stamina between typical males and females. It would be quite physically demanding on females if they were put through exactly the same training routine as males. In addition, it could also have been a result of the common association of the nursing profession with females as well as females’ “greater eye for details” which makes a large number of respondents from both sexes unanimously agreeing with enlisting females into the healthcare sector if compulsory NS was implemented for them. With a large amount of females serving as medics or nurses, this would also mean that more males can now be deployed to more active and physical roles in the defence of Singapore, indirectly meaning that manpower in the current NS scheme could be greatly increased and new posts and options could also be explored for both males and females, further strengthening the total defence of Singapore. Females could of course also be deployed into the education sector, and other government institutions instead to help boost the development of Singapore in areas other than defence and this would also be a form of how they could provide service to the nation (National Service) instead of participating in the traditional NS scheme set for males. From the responses generated by most respondents about how the NS scheme should be (for example, duration and pay awarded to females) it is clearly obvious that most people still have the concept of the old NS scheme in mind when it comes to implementing compulsory NS for females and this also showcases the influence of the old NS scheme - 12 -

on their answers, for we discovered that most of the options chosen for such questions about the duration, ideal age and pay awarded to females were very much similar to the current NS scheme for males. The implications of these observations might be, that if MINDEF was to come up with an entirely new and different scheme of compulsory NS for females, surveys might have to be conducted on a much larger scale to assess the public’s opinions on the scheme before it is implemented. This is because most people currently used to the idea of the old NS scheme might not be able to accept new and drastically different schemes for females (especially so for females). 3.5 Reasons AGAINST the notion of compulsory National Service for females Figure 5: Various reasons against the implementation of compulsory National Service for females. Keys: Rectangular boxes refer to males, while cylinders refer to females. ‘Op’ refers to ‘Option’ Op1: Too much stress (either physically or mentally) for females to take. Op2: There are already sufficient males serving National Service. - 13 -

Op3: National Service is a waste of time. Op4: It is the male's responsibility to serve and protect the nation. Op5: No freedom to pursue other interest. Op6: Should be made optional for females instead. Op7: Affects the marriage prospect of females. A total of 70 respondents, which accounts for approximately 71% of the respondents, were against the notion of compulsory NS for females. They were subsequently given seven options, of which they had to choose the best two reasons to why they were against the notion. Respondents of both genders strongly felt that NS for females should not be made compulsory, but rather optional for females (option 6 in figure 5). However the female respondents were also concerned that NS would have too much stress for the females to take, and hence this became the second most popular reason against the notion with 25% of the votes (option 1 in figure 5). For the male respondents, 15.9% of their votes went to the reason that there are already a sufficient number of males serving the NS, hence eliminating the need to enlist the females (option 2 in figure 5). An interesting observation is that there were 5.4 times as many males than females who thought that NS is a waste of time, and hence discouraged compulsory enlistment for females (option 3 in figure 5). This was one of the reasons that gave the greatest marked difference in responses between male and female respondents. On another interesting note, a handful of the respondents (4.5% for males, and 5.2% for females) felt that serving the NS might affect the marriage prospects for the females (option 7 in figure 5). Overall, common reasons that respondents have against implementing compulsory NS for females could be explored so as to come up with a NS scheme that is more suited to the needs of females and caters to the concerns that most males and females have about the implementation of NS as well. In all, a significant amount of males and females (40%) felt that instead of making NS compulsory for females, it should be made optional instead. We feel that if this were to be the case, then the government would have to spend a lot of time and effort in publicising the NS scheme and letting females in particular know more about their flexible scheme so as to encourage more females to sign up for it. - 14 -

However, if the government is actually planning to target a large group of females, then it might be necessary to make the scheme compulsory in order to obtain the sufficient number of people whom they need. In both scenarios, careful planning and extensive surveys would have to be made before any scheme is implemented to prevent the possibility of upsetting the public. This is because through the survey as mentioned, we also found out how some females were worried about stress and their marriage prospects if made to go through NS. Hence this further reinforces the need to clarify any doubts on their parts and explaining to them how NS schemes introduced (if any) would not affect their marriage prospects. Measures that can be taken to prevent this phenomenon include making NS more flexible for females by allowing them to serve and yet have the opportunity and more free time to spend time with loved ones. As mentioned earlier, from the survey results, female respondents were in general much more concerned about enduring stress either physically or mentally as compared to male respondents. Hence as suggested by the bulk of respondents, a possible solution to this would be posting females to healthcare sectors for national service. This would most probably be of benefit to Singapore whether in the military context or not (meaning regardless of whether females are serving NS in local hospitals or as medics in camps), as this would give us a greater pool of healthcare personnel who can act upon times of emergency or war. In addition, it was also found that a portion of male respondents actually felt that there was no need for compulsory NS for females due to sufficient males in service already. This was not what we expected, because we felt that this option might have been one that was more popular among female respondents, however the data as presented seems to indicate otherwise. One reason why more male respondents felt so might be due to the fact that even after the 2 years of compulsory service, males are still called back for reservist from time to time. Hence as males are constantly being retrained through reservist, this actually gives Singapore a considerable pool of easily mobilised males in times of emergency, which probably makes it possible for optional NS for females due to the ready pool of able men available. - 15 -

Lastly, the fact that a significant number of male respondents actually found NS a waste of time for females if made compulsory for them could possibly be linked to the fact they themselves also found their NS experience a waste of time. Hence it might be better to provide clarifications on the aim and importance of NS to prospective males and possibly females who are about to enlist in NS to let them know the significant roles they play be it in the total defence of the nation or other areas as well (in the case of a modified NS scheme for females to better suit their physical and emotional needs). 4. Conclusions From the survey findings and analysis, we conclude that national service should not be made compulsory for females in Singapore. This is because majority of the respondents voted against the compulsory enlistment of females in national service. The bulk of this group of respondents feels that national service for females should be implemented on an optional basis instead. Although we did not investigate the views of respondents who are in favour of optional national service for females, we can draw several valuable conclusions from the opinion of respondents about the compulsory enlistment of females in national service. 1. National service for females should best be restricted to the health care sector as this is an area where females can develop their potential in and does not require much physical strength nor stamina. 2. Optional NS for females might be met with some problems with low enrolment numbers if the scheme is not well explained to potential females participants for we found that a significant number of females who objected to compulsory NS were worried about emotional and physical stress and marriage prospects. - 16 -

3. Most respondents felt that the duration, age upon enlistment and allowance for females serving NS should be modelled after the current national service system already put in place for males. 4. Male respondents who believe in gender equality and NS as an act of patriotism tend to agree with the notion of compulsory NS for females. Conversely for females, belief in gender equality and NS as an act of patriotism did not translate to their agreement on our proposed suggestion of compulsory NS for females. 5. Recommendations After evaluating the findings and conclusions, we would like to propose that MINDEF consider implementing optional national service for females. 1. The optional NS scheme should concentrate on placing females in the healthcare sector and it would be preferential for the scheme to be modelled after the current scheme. 2. MINDEF should also conduct extensive surveys regarding optional NS and schemes to be introduced, concentrating on youths in Singapore to elucidate their opinions and views so as to improve on the enrolment rate. To further improve enrolment rates, the optional NS scheme should also be highly publicized with emphasis played on the important roles that females will play as well. 3. Females can also be put through a short essential survival skills course to equip them with the necessary survival skills that would be important in wartimes and emergencies. 4. Reservist for females can be implemented on a five-cycle basis, so as to reaffirm their knowledge gained and to polish up their skills. - 17 -

6. Appendix 6.1 Survey questionnaire Dear Undergraduates, We are students from the Faculty of Science currently doing a survey analysis report for our Professional Communications modules. We are interested in finding out the views of NUS students (Singaporeans and Permanent Residents only) towards the enlistment of females into the National Service. In our survey, we define 'National Service' to be a means of providing service to Singapore, which is not limited to the military sector. If significant findings are obtained through our survey, we may consider submitting a formal report to the Ministry of Defence for their perusal. We would greatly appreciate your help in completing our questionnaire by 20th September 2004. We wish you a good day, and thank you. Faithfully, Kevin Chong Benjamin Wong Angel Chua 1. Gender of participant • Male • Female 2. Do you believe in gender equality • Yes • No 3. Do you think that National Service is a way for females to show their patriotism to the nation? • Yes • No 4. Should National Service for females be made compulsory? • Yes (Please proceed to question 5 to 12) • No (Please proceed to question 13 to 14) 5. Why should females be enlisted to National Service? (Please select the two most appropriate answers) • Since they are Singaporean, and thus should also do a part for the country. • Show others that females can take as much hardship as males. • Provide equal opportunity for both sexes to serve the nation, and to reinforce gender equality. - 18 -

• Foster a sense of belonging and identity towards Singapore. • Both sexes from the same age group can compete at the same age platform when they graduate from tertiary education at the same time. • Play an active role in national defence against terrorism. • Other (please specify) 6. How long should females serve National Service? (The current service period for males is 2 years) • Half a year • One year • One and a half year • Two years • More than two years 7. Do you think that females should take up physically demanding positions? • Yes • No 8. Which sector of National Services should females undertake? (please select only the best option) • Military sectors (army, police etc) • Health sectors (Medic, Nurse etc) • Education (Kindergarten teachers etc) • Clerical work in government institutions • Others (Please specify) 9. At which age do you think is appropriate for females to serve National Service? • 16 – 17 years old • 18 – 19 years old • 20 – 21 years old • Over 21 years old 10. Do you think females should recieve the same National Service allowance as males? • Yes • No (Should have more than males) • No (Should have less than males) 11. Should females be liable to be called up for reservist after completing their National Service stint? • Yes • No 12. Other comments/suggestions 13. If no, why shouldn't National Service be made compulsory? (Please choose the two most appropriate answers) - 19 -

• Too much stress (either physically or mentally) for females to take. • There are already sufficient males serving National Service. • It is a waste of time. • It is the male's responsibility to serve and protect the nation. • No freedom to pursue other interest. • Should be made optional for females instead. • Affects the marriage prospect of females. • Others (Please specify) 14. Other comments/suggestions - 20 -