Eugenics Phase

Question 1

When was EP?

Answer 1

1983 to 1986

Question 2

What sparked off the start of EP?

Answer 2

• dramatic dip in fertility rate

- in 1975, replacement fertility rate was reached and it continued to decline

Question 3

Why was there a dramatic dip in fertility rate during EP?

Answer 3

• women’s increasing participation in the workforce
• change in family structures (relocation of extended families from larger communal living arrangements to public housing units)

Question 4

What was the concern of decreasing fertility rate?

Answer 4

• decreasing number of graduate women wanting to get married and marrying at an older age
• reducing the number of babies born to the higher educated
• decrease in the quality of workforce

Question 5

What did the government do to encourage graduate women to give birth?

Answer 5

• set up the Social Development Unit in 1984 to matchmake graduates
• provide incentives for graduate women who had three or more children

Question 6

What incentives/discentives were there during EP?

Answer 6

• enhanced tax relief for graduates
• priority for primary school admissions for graduates
• sterilization incentive of $10,000 was given to mothers who had no O levels below the age of 30 to stop after their first or second child
• they had to repay the $10,000 plus interest if they failed to comply

Question 7

How did the decreasing fertility rate affect the ethnic composition of Singapore?

Answer 7

-as a large proportion of graduates were Chinese, there was a concern that the ethnic composition of Singapore would change due to the decreasing number of Chinese babies