Literature review

 This Is What Inequality Looks Like - Teo You Yenn

The book that chose to review is This is what inequality looks like by Teo You Yenn. . This book discusses inequality in Singapore because of the different socio-economic statuses and how people of lower socioeconomic status live or are treated differently from others of higher socioeconomic statuses. The reason I wanted to review this book is that the topics discussed in this book are not something that is widely talked about in Singapore.

We have always believed that Singapore is equal and fair because of our belief in Singapore and the government this is also emphasized in the pledge that we take pride in " to build a democratic society, based on justice and equality..." however this is not true. This book highlights the inequality and disrupts the narrative of Singapore being a perfectly equal society.

The book shows how work-life balance is harder to achieve with people with lower-class privileges and how it is easily attainable with people with higher-class privileges. Since parents with a lower class privilege have a need to earn more money they are almost always at work and their children have no one to take care of them so the obvious common sense answer would be to send them to childcare or kindergarten but it is not that simple as these lower-income households are at first already tight on money, so they will have to fill up forms to qualify for full government subsidies at government-linked child-care centers. But to qualify for government subsidies, mothers have to be employed. This is a circular problem: without help with childcare, women are not able to find time to secure stable unemployment; without stable employment, they are not able to secure enrollment in childcare centers. 

Even with child care, employment is still hard to maintain because care gaps- either daily or cyclical- persist. Daily gaps may occur when center closing hours may not coincide with work hours. Picking children up by the time centers close is challenging. Weekends also when children stay home and parents go to work also poses a care gap. This creates enormous anxiety for the parents and they may be unable to focus at work. Some people may quit their job to care for them because of their lack of care options. Which means that money is even tighter.

The book highlights all kinds of struggles that people that have lower income may face that may be invisible to others with higher income. This book has broadened my horizons on what lower-income households face that I may take for granted. I got this book at the start of Secondary 4 and it has greatly changed my perspective on life. Before I read this book I was not aware of other people's challenges. This has led me to have greater critical thinking on topics that are bigger than me, bigger than what I am. I have learned that everyone has struggles that may I may not be able to see on the surface so we have to treat everyone with kindness.