Gender and Quality of Life in Singapore

Abstract

Singapore is a city-state in South East Asia with a stable political system and an export and services-oriented economy. Generally, women enjoy gender equality in terms of opportunities to education, jobs and resources. Insights into how gender may influence quality-of-life issues are gleaned from the results of a nation-wide survey of 1500 Singapore citizens conducted in 2011. We report the correlations between gender and quality-of-life measures such as life satisfaction, satisfaction with living in Singapore, happiness, enjoyment, achievement, psychological flourishing, emotional wellbeing and economic wellbeing. We also show how women and men differ in their choice of personal values and what is important to their wellbeing.

Generally, women reported slightly lower levels of satisfaction across various life domains (e.g., familial relationships, friendships and jobs). Both women and men were happier and enjoyed their lives more in 2011 compared to 2006. Women also felt a greater sense of achievement. Women and men were fairly similar in their assessment of emotional wellbeing, psychological flourishing and economic wellbeing. Women were more likely to enhance their psychological wellbeing by being good people and leading good lives while men preferred to focus on being engaged and interested in their daily activities. For the personal values that are important to Singaporeans, both women and men emphasized security, self respect, warm relationships with others and sense of belonging.

In the Singapore context, it appears that gender differences are muted. However, the analysis of gender together with other demographic variables (e.g., age, education, marital status and personal income) helped to shed light on different groups of women and their concerns with quality-of-life issues.