Please Mind the Gap : 2

Where is Home? Are we all immigrants? Who demarcates a country and what makes a nation? Where do displaced communities belong? 

18th December was proclaimed as International Migrants Day by the UN General Assembly in 2000 — a day significant for Singaporeans as most of us are descendants of migrants, labourers who worked long hours for low pay. But how much do we know of our roots and where we come from? As of June 2016, foreigners make up 64% of Singapore’s population. What is the difference between a Migrant, a Foreigner, a Refugee? Why is there the notion of a social class associated with these terms? 

To close the disparity and create acceptance, to shine light on the wonderfulness of all our similarities instead of differences. To investigate that our home was once not this home we know of — that we are here by chance, and we should give that same equal chance to everyone. 

This is a problem because change is the only constant, yet we don’t like change. We don’t like it when Little India is unusually crowded on weekends and we attempt to implement barricades to fence off these workers from resident spaces. How can we, once a migrant, tell another migrant, that they do not belong here? Ma (Mother Nature), where’s Home? 

Please Mind the Gap : 1

“The results showed boys and girls aged five both viewed their own gender positively, but girls aged six and seven were markedly less likely than boys to associate brilliance with their own gender.” 

The article has conveyed a worrying concern over the results of girls as young as six who were already affected by stereotypes. In an experiment, the children heard a story about a person who was “really, really smart” and were asked to guess who it was about from a selection of male and female characters. Boys and girls aged five both viewed their own gender positively, but girls aged six and seven were less likely than boys to associate brilliance with their own gender. This results came after a researcher from the University of Illinois, Lin Bian, noted a growing trend of women in society who push away jobs that are perceived to require brilliance. 

I am interested in investigating how girls age seven and above, view themselves in this world. Do they believe that they have the power to change? That they are brilliant in every way? Do they fuel and surround themselves with positivity? Do they boldly say, “I can”? What is their voice, their story? What is their Brilliance? 

It is a problem because we exist. We exist in every home, every house, every office, every nation, every country. Our aspirations and dream careers should not be diluted just because of a stereotype we have somehow bought into.