Gender and Divorce in Contemporary Singapore

Abstract

How do individuals perceive and experience divorce in a self-proclaimed Confucian state, but with a legal system based on the English common law system? Moreover, are there differences in the experiences between divorced women with professional careers and divorced men whose ex-wives are professional women? This paper attempts to address these questions in the context of Singapore, a city-state in Southeast Asia, where more than 70% of the citizenry is Singaporean Chinese. While most existing studies have examined women’s and men’s experiences with divorce separately, we compare and contrast these individuals’ experiences in the same cultural and legal context. We analyze the qualitative data collected through semistructured interviews with 14 Singaporean Chinese divorcees and illustrate how the three dimensions of divorce experiences—specifically the perceptions and experiences of Court proceedings, the coping strategies, and postdivorce parenting—vary along the gender line. We suggest that individuals not only act to end their marriages, but also come to terms with their gendered identities through managing their roles in the family and interacting with family members in distinctive ways.