Editor's Note
On January 13, in the middle of an unseasonable cold snap in Singapore, some fifteen of us squeezed into a cosy room in Jalan Kubor and began the tough, honest work of teasing apart what "home" meant.
The idea was to "un-gender" the notion of home: to scramble ingrained ways of thinking about who did what, for whom, in the privacy of our living quarters. To question why certain forms of labour are not paid and privileged, and to stare long and hard at the reasons. Was it simply to do with the genders of those performing these labours? And if so, how could - and should - that change?
We put pens to paper (or fingers to keyboards and screens), to respond to a series of writing prompts. Rewrite Cinderella so that it's more equitable. Take cues from a series of photographic portraits of Swedish dads on paternity leave. Write a play in which two gender-less aliens argue about household chores... We dug deep into our childhoods and forgotten memories, past the uneasiness of family dynamics, to listen to one another with compassion - resurfacing with greater understanding and empathy for the difficult business of building and maintaining homes together.
Here, then, are some of the pieces that have resulted from that workshop. Thank you, to these writers, for their courage in sharing their perspective. On March 8, 2018 - International Women's Day - it is only fitting that we hear their voices on an issue that is often off the public record. While studies and statistics may illuminate and spark debate, fiction and poetry has a way of affording us a different clarity.
Thank you, to each and every one of the 15 who helped start this dialogue in January.
More here: www.straitstimes.com/lifestyle/un-gendering-the-home
The idea was to "un-gender" the notion of home: to scramble ingrained ways of thinking about who did what, for whom, in the privacy of our living quarters. To question why certain forms of labour are not paid and privileged, and to stare long and hard at the reasons. Was it simply to do with the genders of those performing these labours? And if so, how could - and should - that change?
We put pens to paper (or fingers to keyboards and screens), to respond to a series of writing prompts. Rewrite Cinderella so that it's more equitable. Take cues from a series of photographic portraits of Swedish dads on paternity leave. Write a play in which two gender-less aliens argue about household chores... We dug deep into our childhoods and forgotten memories, past the uneasiness of family dynamics, to listen to one another with compassion - resurfacing with greater understanding and empathy for the difficult business of building and maintaining homes together.
Here, then, are some of the pieces that have resulted from that workshop. Thank you, to these writers, for their courage in sharing their perspective. On March 8, 2018 - International Women's Day - it is only fitting that we hear their voices on an issue that is often off the public record. While studies and statistics may illuminate and spark debate, fiction and poetry has a way of affording us a different clarity.
Thank you, to each and every one of the 15 who helped start this dialogue in January.
More here: www.straitstimes.com/lifestyle/un-gendering-the-home
Clara Chow
March 8, 2018
