March 8, 2023

Literature has found that women and children in blended families are more likely to have lower overall wellbeing. But there is a dearth of research on the impact of remarriage and stepfamily formation on the newly formed family in Singapore. It is questionable whether remarriage is always associated with greater social mobility and better welfare for women.

In ‘Examining Social Mobility amongst Remarried Ethnic Minority Women in Singapore’ (Journal of Family Issues, 2020), Dr Lavanya Balachandran (NUS College of Alice and Peter Tan) and Professor Wei-Jun Jean Yeung (NUS Department of Sociology and Anthropology & Centre for Family and Population Research) sought to deepen understanding of how remarriage impacts social mobility among ethnic minority women in Singapore, focusing on remarried Malay women population. The paper also highlighted the different life experiences of different classes of remarried Malay women. The authors concluded that while remarriage offers women a socially viable means to get rid of social stigma, stepfamily formation in Singapore tends to deepen rather than mitigate vulnerabilities, especially for working-class Malay women. The combining effect of ethnicity and class impose moral and cultural pressure for these women to bear emotional and material struggles alone.

The research data was drawn from narratives of 16 remarried Malay women. The researchers were also able to augment information available through in-depth interviews with these respondents and observations in their homes as well as in family workshops. The authors then argued that social mobility should not just be understood in terms of individual socio-economic status. Rather, individuals’ familial relationships and interaction with the state matter as well.

While both lower-income and middle-income respondents explained that remarriage was due to individual selection and choice rather than economic reasons, some also pointed out that they needed remarriage for protection from social stigma. However, remarriage can also have drawbacks, such as strained relationships between children and stepfather, as well as bearing a husband without stable income.

The experience of remarriage can differ across different classes of remarried women. The study found that many middle-class women were more likely to receive emotional and material support from their extended family members, whereas lower-income respondents recounted tenuous moments with their parents and other relatives during family transitions. Low-income women also spent greater but often futile and painful efforts to enforce maintenance claims from ex-husbands. The continued presence of stepchildren’s biological mother also imposed additional emotional, psychological, and physical stress on the respondents.

Furthermore, the authors argued that it might not be true that lower-income women benefit from a wide range of state welfare, which is often temporary and conditional. The lower-income respondents might not qualify for financial assistance or other benefits because they did not have custody of the children, and they could not derive the welfare scheme’s full benefit due to limited family savings. The lack of educational qualifications and work experiences among many lower-income respondents also barred them from obtaining stable employment and corresponding subsidies. This economic vulnerability exacerbated childcare issues among these respondents.

Read the article here: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0192513X20918441