Gender blender : an analysis of gender roles in Singaporean households

Abstract

This paper seeks to address potential changes in the gender roles of Working Parent (WP) households and Stay-at-home Dad (SAHD) households in Singapore. According to Beck’s theory of second modernity where gender boundaries are increasingly blurred, it would be interesting to note how the social context of Singapore would influence the results of such changes. Through semi-structured interviews, it explores how parents split household responsibilities as well as caregiving roles between WP and SAHD households. Household responsibilities as well as caregiving roles are now less gendered and more rationalized through the use of household strategies. Whilst this highlighted the agency of individuals, such agency is restricted to normative conventions of gender put in place by the society.