By Stacy Ooi
What do politicians and London Weight Management have in common? AWARE weighs in.
The Association of Women for Action and Research (AWARE) will hold its annual gender equality award ceremony on 10th September at the Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel. Called The Supersonic Big Ball, the awards are a relatively young event, launched only last year, that seeks to chip away at patriarchal attitudes in society.
One of the features in this year's event will be an AWARE auction featuring Singapore’s most famous fashion item. MP for Marine Parade GRC, Tin Pei Ling, has donated her Kate Spade bag to raise funds for AWARE. A picture of her posing with the item surfaced during the General Election last year and became the target for criticism and ridicule. Ms Tin, whose grassroots experience includes working with disadvantaged women, is glad to give up the bag for a ‘very worthy cause’. Other significant auction items include jewellery from local social enterprise Saught, and artwork from local artist Manjeet Shergill.
“In the course of my work in the community, I have met many women, from single mothers to the elderly, who need help and support,” Ms Tin said. “I hope that the proceeds from this bag will help to sustain AWARE’s crisis Helpline, Sexual Assault Befrienders Service, Legal Clinic and counselling services for women. These are laudable efforts to help women in Singapore. This particular bag received much publicity during the last GE, and I hope to put it to good use. When AWARE approached me and asked to put it up for auction, I saw this as an opportunity to raise funds for a very worthy cause.”
This year the association is also armed with new awards and categories to highlight and applaud individuals who have advanced gender equality in Singapore. There will be two AWARE Heroines and one AWARE Hero, while the new categories are Campaign of the Year, News Story of the Year and Cause of the Year. The Cause of the Year for 2012 award seeks to empower women in corporate leadership; awards will be given to individuals who consistently and effectively encourage female leadership in the corporate sector. This is a particularly pertinent cause in Singapore where there is a significant lack of female corporate leadership - women hold just 6.9 per cent of directorships on the boards of Singapore’s listed companies, while 61.3 per cent of the 730 companies on the Singapore Exchange do not have a single female board member.
We will also see a return of the Alamak! Awards, bound to attract much debate and attention for ‘rewarding’ examples of sexism in Singapore. As its website delicately states, the award is ‘bestowed on those who have helped cement gender stereotypes’. Last year’s nominees included the Obedient Wives’ Club and the SAF’s ‘Our Army, My Boyfriend’ advertisement. This year sees a similarly face palm inducing line-up: London Weight Management running an advertisement implying that women must be thin to be happy, former presidential candidates Mr Tan Jee Say and Dr Tan Cheng Bock channelling patriarchal attitudes in their comments during GE2011, a ladies’ marathon where buff men are used to bait women to run faster. Vote for the nominees here.
For more information about the Supersonic Ball, click here.