Above Pic: Israeli Defense Force army girls taking a shower while posing for a photo
There has been a long heartfelt debate on whether females should serve NS alongside the males. This raises the issue of gender equality, when males lose up to 2 years of their golden age to military service, while their female peers get a head-start on their careers.
I have recognised that females now have an edge over males in certain occupations, and as for popular courses such as medicine, males are returning from national service to find that competition for places is tighter than had they deferred 2 year ago.
On whether Females should serve National Service, PM Lee has said that “There is currently no need for females to serve NS”.
There is widespread dissent that PRs , especially male PRs, enjoy a free ride into Singapore without having to serve the nation, and that the born and bred Singaporean NSmen have to defend the 400,000 PRs and further 125,000 new citizens, nearly 20% of the resident population, while the immigrants are spared such a ritual.
However, I have found a way in which females and new citizens/PRs can render their service to the nation: Economic National Service.
We have more than enough soldiers for defense. However, the country has become increasingly reliant on foreign workers, not only to run the economy, but to run the statutory boards and state organs.
There is a severe shortage of Singaporean blue collar workers, and as a result, we have to import about 625,000 work permit holders to do the job, and another 500,000 by 2030.
Having such a large foreign workforce is inherently dangerous as , in the event of domestic crisis, for example, severe recession, disaster, epidemics or war, there could be a exodus of foreign workers from Singapore, or the supply could simply dry up by foreign workers preferring greener pastures in other nations, should Singapore lose its economic competitiveness, or should China and India, our top 2 sources of foreign workers, catch up to Singapore in the near future.
Our economy and state organs could collapse, with no one to do our dirty jobs. This is a very serious predicament.
However, if we enlisted our women and PRs/New Citizens to do these jobs, we can reduce our reliance on the foreign workforce.
By mandating that all citizen females and new citizens/PRs serve 5 years of Economic National Service we can free up 500,000 full time ENSpeople, enough to eliminate the growth of work permit holders from now to 2030.
I propose that females serve 2 years of ENS, essentially learning and working in a second job (cooks, cleaners, nurses, repairmen, bus drives etc) , at 18 years of age, like their male counterparts. Foreigners who wish to become PRs have to serve 2 years of ENS, before their PRship is granted, and a further 3 years to be granted citizenship.
Once they have completed their initial training, the females/PRs will form a pool of “reservists”, ready to take over the jobs of work permit holders should there be a foreign worker emigration crisis, and ensure a balanced workforce.
The female citizens, and males who have completed their reservist, will serve a further 3 years of ENS close to retirement age, or at a point of sustained unemployment, to ensure minimal disruption to their careers.
ENS people will work in Government Linked Companies or Stat Boards, and they should be given a substantial salary. I propose that ENSpeople be given $2000 and above, or twice the regular salary of blue collar jobs. This is possible, given that for every $1000 a blue collar makes for his company, he is paid less than $400 in wages.
Abel Tan
Israel: In 1985 the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) began putting women into combat positions and by 2009 women were serving in artillery units, rescue forces, and in anti-aircraft forces. While women must take part in compulsory military service, they are conscripted for only two years, versus three for men.
A study on the integration of female combatants in the IDF between 2002 and 2005 found that women often exhibit "superior skills" in discipline, motivation, and shooting abilities, yet still face prejudicial treatment stemming from "a perceived threat to the historical male combat identity."