The Women's Charter is a legislative act that was passed in 1961 to protect and advance the

rights of women and girls in Singapore. It is a wide-ranking charter that brings together the
regulation of the relationship between husband and wife and the relationship between parents
and their children, termination of marriages and division of matrimonial assets. Furthermore, it
provides protection against family violence and penalty for offences against women and girls.
1. A married woman can own her own property. Her property is not necessarily her
husbands.
2. A wife is not liable for her husbands debt.
3. Under section 69 of the Womens Charter, any married woman whose husband
fails to provide her reasonable maintenance may apply for her maintenance of
either a monthly allowance or a lump sum to the Court.
4. The court can order a man to pay maintenance of his wife upon divorce,
separation or annulment of marriage

Cameron Snell noticed that marriages do not work well in modern society due to our
materialistic and individualistic mindsets while Rob Whitley believes that people need to feel
loved and love others, leading to new ways in which people find love.
Whitley states that the seeking for romance has led to mushrooming businesses which offer
quick and easy matchmaking services, online and offline. This phenomenon is also seen in
Singapore and even the Singapore government is actively encouraging marriages by
presenting dating events for Singaporeans to take part in. the Social Development Unit
(SDU), a sub-agency of the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports, has been
providing six-month long matchmaking classes since July 2011. The SDU has 25,000
members to date and has also set up an online dating site, called LoveByte. This site is meant
to work in conjunction with private dating sites. The proliferating of such dating and
matchmaking businesses has spurred on the government to work the same. In Singapore,
the governments main intention is to bring about more marriages and subsequently more
babies so as to increase the fertility rate. These services are mostly fuelled by singles
searching for love which proves Whitleys point in Singapore.
Whitley also says that singles attempt to fill the lack of romantic emotions they have by
watching television shows with fictitious characters who seem to reflect themselves in
reality. Essentially, singles devise methods to experience love and find romance, eventually
walking down the path of marriage. An increasing number of television dramas made in
Singapore definitely contains the love element and romance at times form the bulk of
plots in Singapore local dramas. The rise in pervasiveness of social media and fast-speed
broadband has altered the way singles find love, with 51% in Singapore trying online dating,
to more than 70% tracking the digital footprints of their potential dates - 'e-stalking'
especially on Facebook. All these attempts to find love clearly exemplify that singles are
trying to fill the emptiness in their hearts and this trend in Singapore agrees with Whitleys
points about singles.
On the other hand, Snell argues that marriage defies the values of modern society:
individualism and materialism. Consequently, husbands and wives have poor ties, ending
with divorce. Divorce laws further exacerbate this problem by respecting a couples decision
to divorce. In Singapore, the Womens Charter is a legislative act passed in 1961 to protect
the rights of women, even in divorce and division of assets. It states that a married woman
can own her own property which does not necessarily belong to her husband, a wife is not
responsible for her husbands debt and a husband has to provide a reasonable maintenance
for his wife after divorce. These laws evidently exemplify that the court or society does
respect a wifes personal rights to divorce and assets, thereby promoting individualism.
Wives are also given monetary reimbursement which, likewise, reflects our materialistic
society. Thus, Snells view is indeed reflective of my societys trends.
Snell also noticed an upward trend of divorces and relationships involving only lust and
transient friendships. It is surprising that this trend is not manifested in Singapore. In fact,
the number of divorces fell by 5% while the marriage rate rose 2.5% from 2011 to 2012.
Although this is does not follow Snells expectations of rising divorces, Singapore does follow
Snells expected uprising trend of friends with benefits relationships. In 2013, the acquittal
of the former Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) chief, the former head of the Singapore Civil
Defence Force (SCDF) and a former law professor are sex-for-contracts or sex-for-grades
cases. Sex is deemed as the new bribery instead of money and these relationships do not
contain romantic emotions. However, these isolated cases do not form the bulk of my
society and are not representative of my societys trend. In Singapore, an Asian country,
people still hold largely conservative mindsets and most Singaporeans are not quite open to
such conventional, loveless relationships. Thus, Snells observations are not descriptive of
Singapores recent trends.
Finally Cameron Snell also pointed out that singlehood is increasingly becoming a highly
preferred lifestyle choice as more singles are escaping from marriage. Today, the average
age of first marriage is almost 27 for women and 29 for men. One third of all women and 40%
of men in Singapore are married at 30 years old or older. This clearly illustrates that more
singles are delaying marriage and in my society, this is mainly caused by the increasing
importance of pursuing careers in the lives of these young adults, which is prioritised over
marriage. Singlehood is accompanied with more freedom in their lives, which again affirms
Snells previous points that individualistic people are going into divorce, or simultaneously
away from marriage. Hence, Snells observed trends are seen in my society.
In conclusion, Snells points agree with my society to a larger extent than Whitleys points as
the latter describes trends within the singles in Singapore, while Snell states trends
regarding marriage, divorce and relationships which reflects trends in my society to a larger
scale.