Its aim is to empower its clients to lead dignified and independent lives.The Voluntary Sterilisation Act comes into force as another population control measure. There are no documented statistics on the prevalence of marital rape in Singapore.The marital rape immunity under Singapore law is believed to have originated from an extrajudicial remark by The marital rape immunity was the subject of legislative amendments in the Penal Code (Amendment) Act 2007.Introducing the proposed amendments at the Second Reading debate of the Penal Code (Amendment) Bill 2007, then Senior Minister of State for Home Affairs Assoc. These amendments include provisions to better prepare at-risk couples for marriage, mitigate the impact of divorces, and strengthen the enforcement of maintenance orders.The first annual Singapore Board Diversity Report is released. Among other things, working mothers get more tax reliefs with each child. 1249, p. 13 at Article 2.UN General Assembly, Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, 18 December 1979, United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. It will go on to become the most performed play in Singapore and Malaysia, and it will also be staged in Hong Kong, Australia, Europe and the US.Sociologist and parliamentarian Aline Wong calls for laws against sex discrimination.Adelene Wee becomes Singapore’s first Singaporean World Bowling Champion when she wins the Ladies' Masters Title at the World Games in London.Lucy Wan is Singapore’s first local pharmacy graduate to be appointed Professor of Pharmacy at the National University of Singapore. Also on the list are senior counsels Amarjeet Singh and N. Sreenivasan, renowned criminal lawyer Subhas Anandan and leading family lawyer Foo Siew Fong. There are, however, a number of issues concerning protection of civil and political rights, particularly freedom of expression, and rights to political participation. On 31 July 2012, Indranee was promoted to Senior Minister of State for Law and Education and formally assumed these positions on 1 November 2012.On 28 November 2013, it was announced that Indranee was heading a 12-member steering committee to provide strategic direction for the planned third law school in Singapore, including its admissions criteria, curriculum development and educational philosophy. Five women are elected to the Legislative Assembly - Che Sahora binte Ahmat, Ho Puay Choo, Fung Yin Ching, Chan Choy Siong, and Seow Peck Leng.Khatijun Nissa Siraj becomes the first female social worker in the Syariah Court. She is the first woman to head the organisation in its 172- year history.Ann Elizabeth Wee and Indranee Elizabeth Nadisen are the recipients of the inaugural Outstanding Lifetime Volunteer Awards by the then Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports. All three - Dixie Tan, Aline Wong, Yu-Foo Yee Shoon - are elected and the Singapore Parliament’s 14-year dearth of women members finally ends.The Graduate Mothers Scheme is launched to encourage graduate mothers to have more children, and the Social Development Unit is set up to match-make university graduates.Stella Kon’s play Emily of Emerald Hill is performed for the first time. It is funded by a small group of English-educated Straits Chinese men who believe girls should be educated.Charlotte Elizabeth Ferguson-Davie, a doctor and the wife of Singapore’s first Anglican bishop, founds the St Andrews Medical Mission and opens a dispensary in Bencoolen Street to meet the healthcare needs of the disadvantaged.Nanyang Girls’ High School is set up by a group of businessmen and intellectuals who belong to the United League of China and who are inspired by Sun Yat-Sen’s view that women should be educated in order to play a more active role in serving their country.In June, Lee Choo Neo becomes the first Singaporean woman to register as a doctor.Charlotte Elizabeth Ferguson-Davie opens St Andrews Mission Hospital for Women and Children, one of Singapore’s first maternity and paediatric centres. Girls are given a choice between technical subjects and home economics.Venerable Ho Yuen Hoe establishes the Man Fut Tong Nursing Home to take care of the aged sick and immigrants from China who have no relatives to turn to.Asian Women's Welfare Association (AWWA) is formed to help meet the needs of the elderly, the disabled, and families. SINGAPORE — There is no need for opposition members to be elected to Parliament, given that the enhanced Non-Constituency Member of Parliament (NCMP) scheme guarantees at least 12 opposition Members of Parliament (MP), said the People’s Action Party’s (PAP) Indranee Rajah on Monday (29 June).Reminding reporters of the 2016 constitutional amendments which increased the number of NCMPs and gave them equal voting rights as full MPs, Indranee noted, “Even if the PAP took all the elected seats, which we do not take for granted and cannot be a given, you will still have 12 (NCMPs).”The 57-year-old added, “Then the next question would be, oh, but, you know, can we be as effective in Parliament as NCMPs, for example. The President has to consult the Council on all fiscal matters and the appointment of key personnel in public service. It outlaws brothels and related activities. The aim is to protect women from being regarded as chattel as well as to safeguard those already considered mui tsais by requiring them to be registered and ensuring that they are not mistreated by their employers.The Singapore General Hospital opens the first pediatric ward in Singapore and Dr Sarah Mary Josephine Winstedt is appointed to head it. This is the first time a woman achieves partnership status in a professional services firm in Singapore.At the National Day Rally in August, Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew identifies the failure of female university graduates to marry and bear children (attributed, in part, to the apparent preference of male graduates for less highly educated wives) as a serious social problem. With their life experiences, the graduates will bring a multi-disciplinary perspective to the issues we face.