Parliament passes changes to Women’s Charter

SINGAPORE — The Women’s Charter (Amendment) Bill — including a mandatory parenting programme and a proposal to void Marriages of Convenience — has been passed.

Speaking in Parliament on Monday (Feb 29), Social and Family Development Minister Tan Chuan-Jin said the changes were proposed in view of evolving trends, such as a rising prevalence of dual-income families and divorces, and small but increasing instances of wives being the main family breadwinner.

The key changes proposed include:

- Extending the marriage preparation programme to all marriages where one party is a minor, below the age of 21. Currently, the programme only applies to couples where one party is 18 or under, or where both parties are minors.

- Requiring divorcing couples with minor children to attend a mandatory parenting programme before they can file for divorce. At present, divorcing parents only attend mandatory mediation and counselling, after a writ of divorce has been filed.

- Allowing for spousal maintenance to be extended to incapacitated husbands or ex-husbands, for the first time.

- Making a marriage void if one party to the marriage is convicted of the marriage of convenience offence under the Immigration Act.

- Prohibiting the publication or broadcast of any information in the mass and social media that will reveal or is likely to identify the location of a shelter, residential facility, or its residents.

- Making it an offence for persons in Singapore to operate or maintain in Singapore any website or other remote communication service that offers, or facilitate the provision of sexual services in return for payment.

First passed in 1961 to protect and advance the rights of women and girls in Singapore, the Women’s Charter last saw amendments made to it in 2011. CHANNEL NEWSASIA