Women’s liberation: burning bras in Pakistan?

The reasons for integrating women into society are well known. From the economic to the simple moral argument, there is little debate about the benefits of equal rights. As part of fundamental human rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human rights, discrimination against women is outlawed.

Lofty ideals are great but putting them into practice is not easy. The effectiveness of public policies varies in different nations. Additionally, the suitability of certain policies is questionable in diverging social environments.

Kemalist Turks may consider banning the headscarf an act of women's liberation but try doing that in Afghanistan! In the 1980s, the Soviets paid a heavy price for implementing 'progressive' women's liberation policies; the measures only fuelled the US supported Islamist insurgency.

Female integration is relative. Singaporean women may focus on the gender pay gap, i.e. ensuring the same pay for the same work. However, in Afghanistan female activists are better off campaigning for better access to educational and career opportunities.

Role models are important. That Pakistan has had a female Prime Minister, no matter how corrupt or incompetent, energizes women to believe leadership positions are with reach. The fact that 22% of Pakistan's members of Parliament are women is also important. (For comparison purposes, the percentage of female parliamentarians in Germany, Singapore, and India is 33%, 23% and 11% respectively.)

Role models are important across the entire spectrum of society. Corporate leaders, entrepreneurs, professionals and even sportswomen are necessary.

It can be a tough fight. Pakistan's religiously inclined Bearded Brigade fights to protect its male privileges with ferocity that makes Stalin seem civilized.

It took many years of struggles for the Pakistani women's cricket team to obtain official support. Given the dismal performance of the men's cricket team, the women's team may be Pakistan's only hope in the near term!

The Pakistani Women's cricket team participating in the 2009 women's cricket World Cup

For women to achieve in Pakistan's social environment requires bravery. Social conditions are not always conducive to female participation. Yet, Pakistani women continue to come forward – both out of economic necessity and pursuit of dreams. Even the Pakistani military, formerly a preserve of males has female combat troops and fighter pilots (see video below).

Former President Musharraf may not be liked by Pakistan's superior judiciary but female warriors only have him to thank for a cultural shift which grants women a foothold in the most respected national institution.

Opportunity is a necessary but not sufficient condition for female emancipation. Patronage and will is also required.

When a young twenty-two year old female runner from a slum district in Karachi became South Asia's fastest woman at February's South Asian Games in Dacca, the accolades were fast and sweet. Between President Zardari, the Federal Sports Ministry, Karachi's mayor and the Pakistan's Athletics Federation the runner, Nasim Hamid, was rewarded with Pakistani Rupees 2.3 million. (USD 30,000 may not sound like a lot but on a Purchasing Power Parity basis and to a girl from Karachi's slums it certainly helps to pull her family out of poverty.)

It is significant that Nasim referred to another Pakistani female athletes gold medal wins at an earlier South Asian Games for providing her inspiration. Other females will be encouraged by not just the cash but also the official recognition.

Clearly, winning equal rights for women is an incremental and gradualist process. It requires changing social attitudes. Cash also helps. Now if the religious Bearded Brigade would either see the light or keep their archaic views to themselves then we may even start to see real progress.

Some interesting videos on Pakistan's women's cricket team and women fighter pilots:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRG_xzi8iww

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3ge6d1Wg1Y

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dQfkhmE5z0

Singapore Post: more on the five day work week

Sing Post reduces its delivery frequency from six to five days beginning May 2010. The cutback is attributed to a change in lifestyle, including less use of traditional mail by Singaporeans. The phenomena is not restricted to Singapore, the US Post Office is also considering dropping Saturday delivery services.

Undoubtedly, email and e-cards have dented the use of ordinary mail. Few write letters or mail greeting cards anymore. I enjoy sending post cards if I visit unusual places but how often does one visit Zanzibar or Munich?

In Singapore's case, there is possibly an additional factor at play. In January 2010, the Universal Postal Union (UPU) reclassified Singapore as a developed nation from its earlier category as a developing nation.

The removal of Singapore's classification as a developing nation means that it pays more to other nations under multilateral agreements. A reduced work week is an easy way to reduce Sing Post's operating costs to compensate for the increased UPU charges.

The UPU, established in 1874, coordinates international postal activities among its 191 member countries. The UPU therefore determines how postal services compensate each other for delivery and transit services. Have you ever thought about the economics of paying Singapore Post for delivery in, say, Pakistan? Does Pakistan Post receive any benefit from delivering the letter for which I paid fifty cents?

I am not an expert on what must obviously be a complicated system, but the UPU does have guidelines for the payment of 'terminal dues and transit charges.' In the days of letter writing, postal authorities assumed that a letter always begot a reply so costs between the various national postal systems balanced / cancelled each other. The 'reply' assumption does not hold true today.

Over time, Singapore's status as a developed nation will have other implications. Singapore will be expected to contribute more generously to multilateral organisations, including the World Bank.

Sing Post's changes are among the first institutional examples of Singapore's slow transformation to developed nation status. Unfortunately, it comes at a time when the postal authorities are grappling with a social revolution in how humans communicate with each other. Letter writing is a relic of the past.

Simultaneously, the mindset of the Singaporean leader and bureaucrat must adapt to the change. Singapore will be required to make decisions and be counted within the world community. It will not always be possible to hide in the shadows and avoid controversy. Affluence brings responsibilities, opportunities and risks.

Community Cats and Singapore’s housing estates

The dogs versus cats debate is harder for me to answer than the Beatles versus Elvis question. As a family, we always had a pet dog in our house. Like many kids, my first experience of losing a 'family member' was when our pet dog died in the late 1970s.

Unlike many cities, Singapore does not have a stray dog problem. Neither does it have a stray cat problem, although it does have a large number of stray cats.

Unfortunately, many Singaporeans are unhappy with cats hanging around their neighbourhood. I have noticed letters and comments in the local media complaining about stray cats, urging the authorities to 'control' the menace.

Unless individuals are allergic to cat hair, I have little sympathy for such ideas (or people). Cats are independent and personable creatures; even when annoyed by kids, cats seldom turn violent.

Generally, cats tend to keep to themselves. They are easily scared off by loud noises or sharp gestures. Cats are clean animals – possibly cleaner than many humans. They rid the neighbourhood of mice and, for all practical purposes, are good community residents.

Yes, there is such a thing as a Community Cat! Cats are territorial animals and live in a particular area. In other words, they are part of the local community.

Like human neighbours, cats may sometimes irritate us. They may urinate in hallways or public areas. However, there are ways to deal with the problem without having the cat removed and killed. In dealing with neighbours and community residents, killing is never the right answer!

Humans may be a 'higher animal' but until we show the magnanimity attached with the cerebral privilege we do no favours to the animal kingdom.

PS – When in doubt, please contact the Cat Welfare Society, a Singapore registered charitable society. I am sure the society will be happy to provide guidance on how to deal with a cat related problem.

Is the ‘Office’ going extinct?

Dramatic economic shifts don't occur very often. Historical periods of innovation, such as with the coming of the railroad, lead to dramatic shift in social structures. The impact on society of the internet and related information technology has been no less profound.

Manufacturing entities rely on information technology to perfect the 'just in time' inventory management system. The implications for jobs and downstream industries are clear. Greater efficiency to squeeze cash from processes has been the mantra of corporations for many decades.

To this day, the media and the internet joust for readers and a complementary business model. Newspapers grapple with declining print sales and the onslaught of an overdose of free information. Monetizing and paying for quality content is a secondary issue for readers. Currently, the balance of power clearly lies with readers and not producers of content.

The industrial revolution acted as a catalyst for the creation of cities. Large urban areas became economic powerhouses.

Slowly but surely, the internet is chipping away at the mantra of centralization and bigger is better. Small really is the New Big.

People work on the go. The office is nice to have (even to visit from time to time!) but with laptops and travelling schedules a static location is not always necessary. Commutes from the bedroom to the study are the new norm.

The impact of online technology on the financial services industry shows the extent of change. Hardly any bank customer visits a bricks and mortar bank branch for executing daily transactions. Bank transfers, deposits, withdrawals and all manner of services are conducted at convenient locations through ATM machines. Can you even remember the last time you walked into a bank branch?

Several decades ago the securities markets were the preserve of a few well heeled and connected investors. Today, anyone with a laptop can effectively manage a hedge fund out of their living room.

Deep discount brokers offer rates which were unthinkable during the last century. Complex products such as options and futures are easily accessible to all manner of investors. Most importantly, the products are available at competitive prices. It is not necessary to be a bank or broker to get near wholesale rates.

(Perhaps the dramatic reduction in earnings from traditional brokerage and securities products is partly responsible for the dangerous shift to highly leveraged proprietary trading by the banks?)

The office worker used to dictating memos to a secretary taking notes in shorthand will be a fish out of water in today's office. From email to PowerPoint, the modern office worker is a different animal. That is, if she still works in a traditional office.

Singapore’s economy: the path not yet taken

Singapore's fiscal probity is legendary. Often, final budget numbers turn deficits into surpluses and surpluses into larger than expected surpluses. Arguably, Singaporeans are overtaxed due to Singapore's fiscal conservatism. Undoubtedly, the Goods and Services Tax rate of 7% can be lower.

Singapore 2010 is not Singapore 1990 and neither should it be. Cities change, populations grow and adapt as progress marches onwards. Yet, the recent recession has generated discussions about social safety nets in the Republic.

Singapore's blogosphere highlighted the plight of homeless Singaporeans and 'cardboard ladies' (old women who eke out a living collecting and selling cardboard disposed by supermarkets). Clearly, for a wealthy, compact city state such as Singapore the existence of poverty and homelessness is an embarrassment.

However, the solution to pressing social issues is not simply to increase government spending. It's easy for the government to establish homeless shelters, provide more subsidized health care and so on. The government has enough cash, at least for the next few decades.

Larger social safety nets change behaviour. Already, many Singaporeans are demanding distinctions in pay between citizens and foreigners. In principle, such distinctions are fine. However, anyone who has worked in the Gulf can testify that over time the privileged position of the 'locals' leads to noticeably lower productivity and higher operating costs.

Is a Singaporean bus captain doing anything differently from a Chinese bus captain to deserve his higher pay? If he is, then the higher pay is merit based and not passport based. If not, then travellers on Singapore's buses must be prepared for higher bus fares.

Higher pay and better privileges cannot be created out of thin air. Even Lee Kuan Yew (LKY) and the People's Action Party (PAP) are not magicians. Ultimately, Singaporeans themselves have to pay the bill for the enhanced benefits. Someone always pays the bill.

The increased costs may include higher personal taxes, GST, corporate taxes but will most certainly result in higher operating costs for businesses (or fewer services for the same cost). Higher operating costs do not necessarily equate to reduced competitiveness and, hence, fewer jobs. However, Singapore does not operate in a vacuum. The region includes lower cost markets such as China, Indonesia and Malaysia.  

Come May, when Singapore Post stops delivering mail on Saturday's we should understand that the service reduction is part of the bill Singaporeans pay for demanding a better life.

Singaporeans must decide the extent of the trade-off they are willing to make. There is a long and slippery slope which Singapore must avoid; a path sugar coated by hubris and arrogance.

Don't take my word for it. Charles Munger, the long time partner and right hand man of legendary investor Warren Buffett, describes the rise and fall of a fictional superpower in "Basically, It's Over: a parable about how one nation came to financial ruin."

We will be wise to remember Singapore is not a superpower but a Little Red Dot.  

Singapore's transformation from Third World to First was not a freak accident. The nation's progress benefited from an enabling policy environment but its basic building blocks were values such as thrift, hard work and family support. Relying on social security or winning a lottery is not a sound financial plan, even for citizens of First World nations.

Google, MSN and Yahoo: which way to turn?

Modern consumerism is embodied by the notion of choice. If a consumer is willing to pay, there is always a choice of products. Communism is dead and choice is here.

Even Supermarkets in erstwhile Soviet Moscow which only carried a choice of vodka during the Brezhnev era now cater to the growing Russian nouveau riche. Perhaps the biggest problem for the Russian super rich is not what to buy but how to remain safe from kidnapping and crime.

Computers and internet connections also cost money – public Wi-Fi notwithstanding. However, armed with a laptop and the internet a lot of other stuff is 'free.' Free is in quotation marks because time spent surfing is not actually free – the old adage time is money.

Like many consumers, I have multiple email addresses and too many passwords. Over time, consumers create some order out of the chaos caused by abundance. Emails are narrowed to one, possibly two; a system for remembering passwords is implemented.

However, there is no getting away from multiple. The internet is no exception.

Like a natural evolutionary process, my service providers reflect internet market share among the three biggies: Google, Yahoo and MSN. I use hotmail as my primary personal email, Yahoo is my home page and I rely upon Google for my blogging and secondary email activities.

I was not always a Google user. In fact, I almost felt obligated to use Yahoo for internet searches given Google's overwhelmingly dominant market share. My conversion occurred after I established a Google 'blogspot' blog.

Despite problems with my 'gmail' (it tends to hang and is slow) I clearly understand why Google is google. I have even come to accept google as a verb in the English language!

Google has pulled together many disparate elements of the web into one seamless service. I don't know of any other internet service provider that contains a bank of photographs, blogging, analytics and of course the search facility, all under one umbrella. Google is user friendly and easy to learn.

If I can learn the intricacies of Google's blogging service then anyone can! There is only one way to learn and that's by doing. For avid readers of content on the blogosphere, I highly recommend joining the 'underworld' to share your ideas. In the blogosphere nothing is sacred, not even the PAP.

And someone somewhere on this beautiful planet of ours will certainly find your thoughts interesting. It's called the Fat Tail.

Of budgets, keys and the cost of living

The Singapore budget was announced yesterday. Sophisticated phrases were used and tax benefits were expounded upon by the Finance Minister.

The ordinary Singaporean, like the common citizen in any country, does not involve herself with the finer points of tax breaks or government subsidies. Typically, the ordinary person is concerned with bread and butter issues and how to stretch the Dollar in her pocket.

The lure of Malaysia in stretching the Singapore Dollar is strong. So much so, that the Singapore authorities recently allowed Medisave funds to be used at designated hospitals in Malaysia. A wise policy shift which gives greater flexibility to individuals in seeking the best value for money.

In fact, many Singaporeans travel to Malaysia regularly to shop for their daily goods. Given the prevailing exchange rate and the cost of goods in Malaysia it is not surprising.

The following table outlining the cost of preparing a duplicate key illustrates why Singaporeans save a dollar or two by driving across the causeway.

Cost of preparing a duplicate key in various cities

London                  8.98

Paris                     5.69

Hong Kong             2.83

Jakarta                  2.52

Bangkok                2.28

Singapore              2.15

Kuala Lumpur         0.75

All prices in US Dollars based on January 20, 2010 exchange rates

Source: Wall Street Journal

Yearly budgets, the consumer price index, the producer price index, annualized GDP growth, and non-oil domestic exports are important numbers but it's the impact on the wallet which 'humanizes' such data.

The 'aunties' and 'uncles' working in food courts understand inflation and GDP growth numbers in a way many politicians cannot.