We, the citizens of Singapore: a study of the gender pay gap through the lens of gendered citizenship

Abstract

Despite women achieving almost equal educational attainment and increased labour force participation rates, the gender pay gap remains a persistent societal issue in Singapore. Through in-depth interviews with working Singaporeans and stay-at-home parents, I argue that National Service (NS) and the state play a significant role in gendering male citizenship, resulting in the emergence of additional masculine capital in the workplace. This awards men certain privileges, such as higher starting salaries for the same role and experience, thus (re)producing and reinforcing the gender pay gap. Male citizenship in Singapore perpetuates the breadwinner ideology, where men are seen as both providers and protectors of women and the family. Conversely, female citizenship sees women deprioritizing work commitments and career progression to continue taking on the bulk of caregiving responsibilities, resulting in a feminine penalty. Consequently, women internalize and normalize these gendered norms and reproduce traditional gender roles themselves, heightened by the intersection of religion. The public sphere remains male-dominated, and the emergence of masculine capital leads to a further legitimization of work done in the public sphere and a devaluation of unpaid work in the private sphere. This qualitative study thus highlights the nexus of the military, the workplace and the home as gendered spaces that not only reproduce and reinforce the gender pay gap but produce unequal forms of gendered citizenship.