Changes in Societal Norms played a bigger part in causing Singapore's low birth rates than intervention from the government." How far do you agree? Explain your answer. (13m)
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(will be cleared of Ms Wang's work after this :D )
I agree that the changes in societal norms has played a bigger part in causing Singapore's low birth rates than intervention from the government to a large extent as i believe the policies were implemented very long ago.
The government started the 'Two is enough' policy in 1966 as Singapore was a new state then and its population began to increase by many folds due to the incoming immigrants who came Singapore to look for jobs. And so the policy was implemented to help deal with the sudden increase in population size. However this plan was stopped in 1988 as Singapore's birth rates began to plunge. The 'Have 3 or more children if you can afford it' policy was also ineffective as the population continued to decrease and immigrants choose to fly back home.
The societal norms are very different from the past. People wanted to have many children in the past as they believe they should have more children to carry on their family line or take over their business and things like that. However as the time has passed, people in Singapore , the women, are more work orrientated. They believe that work is more important than making a family in today's world and giving birth is a hindrance to their success.
The government have tried to encourage people to have more children but to no avail. The government has implemented many ways such as the 'Baby Bonus Scheme' which was introduced in April 2001. The scheme has many incentives such as cash gifts for the of birth every child and the government will match dollar for dollar the amount of the savings parents contribute to their child's Children Development Account.
Despite all this bonuses to attract the people to have children, the situation of low birth rates in Singapore is still not changing for the better simply because of the mindset of the popel in today's society, which is work before family.
-shall not give up on SS
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