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Survey: 1 in 2 Singaporeans would vote female president

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-08-06 15:06

SINGAPORE - One in two Singaporeans would vote a female president, and four in five would accept a woman cabinet minister, a free English-language tabloid TODAY citing a recent survey reported on Wednesday.

In the poll of 1,256 Singaporeans, conducted by a lifestyle research portal, 63 percent of the female Singaporeans said they would vote for a woman president, compared to 58 percent of male Singaporeans, the newspaper reported.

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Meanwhile, 83 percent of respondents would accept a female minister, with women perceiving a female minister to be more capable than her male counterpart.

Constance Singam, president of the Association of Women for Action and Research, lauded the findings.

TODAY quoted her as saying: "It shows that Singaporeans are open and that they recognize that women can be leaders and capable, and why not?"

Sociologist Paulin Straughan of the National University of Singapore also said it suggests endorsement for the position that women are welcomed in positions of higher office, according to the newspaper.

A woman has never been a full fledged cabinet minister in Singapore, although Seet Ai Mee served briefly as Acting Minister for Community Development and Sports in 1991.

As for current political office holders, four are women: Minister of State (Community Development, Youth and Sports) Yu-Foo Yee Shoon, Senior Minister of State (National Development and Education) Grace Fu, Senior Minister of State (Finance and Transport) Lim Hwee Hua, Mayor and Senior Parliamentary Secretary (Environment and Water Resources) Amy Khor.