Women's Charter

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Women's Charter 1961
Legislative Assembly of Singapore
  • An Act to provide for monogamous marriages and for the solemnisation and registration of such marriages; to amend and consolidate the law relating to divorce, the rights and duties of married persons, the protection of family, the maintenance of wives and children and the punishment of offences against women and girls; and to provide for matters incidental thereto.
CitationOrdinance No. 18 of 1961
Enacted by Legislative Assembly of Singapore
Commenced15 September 1961
Legislative history
Bill titleWomen's Charter Bill
Bill citationBill No. 126/61
Introduced3 March 1961
First reading 22 February 1961
Second reading 22 March 1961
Third reading 24 May 1961
Committee reportSelect Committee on the Women's Charter Bill [L.A. 10 of 1961] (1961), Official Report, Singapore: Government Printer{{citation}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
Status: In force

The Women's Charter 1961 is an Act of the Singaporean Parliament passed in 1961. The Act was designed to improve and protect the rights of women in Singapore and to guarantee greater legal equality for women in legally sanctioned relationships (except in the area of Muslims marriages, which are governed separately by the Administration of Muslim Law Act). Among other things, the Act provides for the institution of monogamous marriages, the rights of husbands and wives in marriage, the protection of the family, and the legal potentialities with regard to divorce and separation.

Contents

Overview

The Women's Charter was successfully campaigned for by Madam Chan Choy Siong, wife of Ong Pang Boon, a former Cabinet Minister of Singapore. [1]

The Women's Charter was largely based on existing legislation. Parts III to X in the main re-enacted the Civil Marriage Ordinance, the Married Women's Property Ordinance, the Married Women and Children (Maintenance) Ordinance, the Maintenance (Facilities for Enforcement) Ordinance, the Divorce Ordinance and the Women and Girls Protection Ordinance. Part II, which "seeks to provide that any person who is already lawfully married under any law, religion, custom or usage shall during the continuance of such marriage be incapable of contracting any further marriage", was largely new. [2]

Since 1997, divorcing couples have had to file a parenting plan that includes arrangements on custody, access to the child, and provisions for the child's education needs.

Latest amendments to the Charter were passed firstly in January 2011 that introduced provisions to facilitate marriages in Singapore, address divorce and its impact and strengthen the enforcement of maintenance orders. Amendments were passed again on 29 February 2016 after being proposed by the Ministry of Social and Family Development: [3]

Uses and Concerns

Around one in five marriages on the island ends in divorce. Court figures also show that there were 6,017 divorce cases in 2014, a 45 per cent rise from 2000. [8] Custody battles are also of significant concern in recent times. [9] In 2013, there were 1,700 court applications for enforcement orders compelling former spouses to maintain their ex-partners and children. This compares to 1,900 in 2009, before harsher penalties were introduced in 2011. By April 2014, there was an average of 118 orders each year for employers to directly pay out maintenance from defaulters' salaries. [10]

In December 2015, the Association of Women for Action and Research made a proposition that the Women's Charter be renamed as Family Charter instead. [11] Critics also regard the Charter as having transformed from being a safeguard for disadvantaged women into a method of discriminating against men. [12]

Related Research Articles

Divorce is the process of terminating a marriage or marital union. Divorce usually entails the canceling or reorganising of the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage, thus dissolving the bonds of matrimony between a married couple under the rule of law of the particular country or state. It can be said to be a legal dissolution of a marriage by a court or other competent body. It is the legal process of ending a marriage.

Alimony, also called aliment (Scotland), maintenance, spousal support and spouse maintenance (Australia), is a legal obligation on a person to provide financial support to their spouse before or after marital separation or divorce. The obligation arises from the divorce law or family law of each country. In most jurisdictions, it is distinct from child support, where, after divorce, one parent is required to contribute to the support of their children by paying money to the child's other parent or guardian.

Child support is an ongoing, periodic payment made by a parent for the financial benefit of a child following the end of a marriage or other similar relationship. Child maintenance is paid directly or indirectly by an obligor to an obligee for the care and support of children of a relationship that has been terminated, or in some cases never existed. Often the obligor is a non-custodial parent. The obligee is typically a custodial parent, a caregiver, or a guardian.

The fathers' rights movement is a social movement whose members are primarily interested in issues related to family law, including child custody and child support, that affect fathers and their children. Many of its members are fathers who desire to share the parenting of their children equally with their children's mothers—either after divorce or marital separation. The movement includes men as well as women, often the second wives of divorced fathers or other family members of men who have had some engagement with family law.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Family court</span> Court dealing with matters of family law

Family courts were originally created to be a Court of Equity convened to decide matters and make orders in relation to family law, including custody of children, and could disregard certain legal requirements as long as the petitioner/plaintiff came into court with "clean hands" and the request was reasonable, "quantum meruit". Changes in laws and rules have made this distinction superfluous.

Deadbeat parent is a pejorative term referring to parents who do not fulfill their parental responsibilities, especially when they evade court-ordered child support obligations or custody arrangements. They are also referred to as absentee fathers and mothers. The gender-specific deadbeat father and deadbeat mother are commonly used to refer to people who have parented a child and intentionally fail to pay child support ordered by a family law court or statutory agency such as the Child Maintenance Service.

In modern society, the role of marriage and its termination through divorce have become political issues. As people live increasingly mobile lives, the conflict of laws and its choice of law rules are highly relevant to determine:

Child custody is a legal term regarding guardianship which is used to describe the legal and practical relationship between a parent or guardian and a child in that person's care. Child custody consists of legal custody, which is the right to make decisions about the child, and physical custody, which is the right and duty to house, provide and care for the child. Married parents normally have joint legal and physical custody of their children. Decisions about child custody typically arise in proceedings involving divorce, annulment, separation, adoption or parental death. In most jurisdictions child custody is determined in accordance with the best interests of the child standard.

Australian family law is principally found in the federal Family Law Act 1975 and the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia Rules 2021 as well as in other laws and the common law and laws of equity, which affect the family and the relationship between those people, including when those relationships end. Most family law is practised in the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia and the Family Court of Western Australia. Australia recognises marriages entered into overseas as well as divorces obtained overseas if they were effected in accordance with the laws of that country. Australian marriage and "matrimonial causes" are recognised by sections 51(xxi) and (xxii) of the Constitution of Australia and internationally by marriage law and conventions, such as the Hague Convention on Marriages (1978).

In family law, contact, visitation and access are synonym terms that denotes the time that a child spends with the noncustodial parent, according to an agreed or court specified parenting schedule. The visitation term is not used in a shared parenting arrangement where both parents have joint physical custody.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Family Law Act 1975</span>

The Family Law Act 1975(Cth) is an Act of the Parliament of Australia. It has 15 parts and is the primary piece of legislation dealing with divorce, parenting arrangements between separated parents (whether married or not), property separation, and financial maintenance involving children or divorced or separated de facto partners: in Australia. It also covers family violence. It came into effect on 5 January 1976, repealing the Matrimonial Causes Act 1961, which had been largely based on fault. On the first day of its enactment, 200 applications for divorce were filed in the Melbourne registry office of the Family Court of Australia, and 80 were filed in Adelaide, while only 32 were filed in Sydney.

The fathers' rights movement has simultaneously evolved in many countries, advocating for shared parenting after divorce or separation, and the right of children and fathers to have close and meaningful relationships. This article provides details about the fathers' rights movement in specific countries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canadian family law</span>

Family law in Canada concerns the body of Canadian law dealing with domestic partnerships, marriage, and divorce.

This article includes information about the child support policies of several countries.

The matrimonial law of Singapore categorises marriages contracted in Singapore into two categories: civil marriages and Muslim marriages. The Registry of Marriage (ROM) administers civil marriages in accordance to the Women's Charter, while the Registry of Muslim Marriages (ROMM) administers Muslim marriages in accordance to the Administration of Muslim Law Act (AMLA). All marriages performed in Singapore must be registered with the relevant registry in order to be legally valid.

The Family law of Singapore deals with several family legal issues in Singapore. It deals with adoptions, divorce, children's issues, division of matrimonial property, personal protection orders, probate and maintenance. The family court in Singapore oversees these legal issues. Singapore has two separate and different sets of family law: one for Muslims and the other for everyone else. Family law for Muslims is codified in the Administration of Muslim Law Act (AMLA). Family law for non-Muslims is codified in the Women's Charter. The Family Justice Courts of Singapore (FJC) handles all family cases.

In 1967, Iran adopted a set of progressive family laws, the Family Protection Act, which granted women family rights; these were expanded in the Family Protection Law of 1975. The act was annulled in 1979 after the Islamic Revolution when Sharia law was re-introduced, but it stands out for having been ahead of its time, particularly in a Muslim-majority country.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Divorce law in Sweden</span>

Divorce law in Sweden concerns the dissolution of marriage, child support, alimony, custody and the division of property. Divorce restores the status of married people to individuals, leaving them free to remarry. The divorce laws in Sweden are known to be considerably liberal compared to other jurisdictions.

Chan Choy Siong was a Singaporean politician and women's rights activist. Chan was one of the first women to be elected to the Parliament.

The Family Justice Courts (FJC) is a grouping of courts in the judicial system of Singapore that comprises the Youth Courts, Family Courts and High Court. The Youth Courts hear cases related to children and young persons, the Family Courts hear all family proceedings except cases that fall under the Youth Courts, and the Family Division of the High Court primarily hears appeals against the decisions of the Family Courts and the Youth Courts.

References

  1. ↑ Mukunthan, Michael. "Chan Choy Siong". Singapore Infopedia. National Library Board. Retrieved 20 April 2015.
  2. ↑ Women's Charter Bill (No 126 of 1961), Explanatory Statement.
  3. ↑ "Caught in the middle: How changes to Women's Charter can help families affected by divorce" . Retrieved 9 March 2016.
  4. ↑ Yong, Charissa. "Should more men be allowed to seek maintenance?" . Retrieved 9 March 2016.
  5. ↑ Yong, Charissa. "No hiding now for deadbeat dads" . Retrieved 9 March 2016.
  6. ↑ "Parliament: Move to extend maintenance payments to some men a 'calibrated' measure" . Retrieved 9 March 2016.
  7. ↑ Abdullah, Zhaki. "Views sought on proposed changes to Women's Charter". Straits Times. Retrieved 1 December 2015.
  8. ↑ Goy, Priscilla. "Protecting children caught in divorce" . Retrieved 9 March 2016.
  9. ↑ Tan, Theresa. "Getting to the heart of divorce" . Retrieved 9 March 2016.
  10. ↑ Kok, Xing Hui. "'Good move' to crack down on maintenance defaulters" . Retrieved 9 March 2016.
  11. ↑ Tan, Jolene (8 December 2015). "Women's Charter should be Family Charter". Straits Times. Retrieved 9 March 2016.
  12. ↑ Chan, Kennard, Yanting. "Ensure Women's Charter does not become tool for discrimination" . Retrieved 9 March 2016.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
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