Give Me a Belle over A Singapore girl!

[Milano]

<a href="http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/life/story/0,1870,63246,00.html?">Yawn! </a>  Would be interesting to read what are the views of expat. woman about the local woman for a change.

I, for one, share the sentiments of SM Lee that the Singaporean women are SPOILT and to propel Singapore into the next league, women will need to do away with Confucian values that develop this crutch mentality for dependency.

Does not help that foreign educated Singapore girlies are dense and do not understand their capacity to contribute. Free lunches are privileges and to be reciprocated with grace and gratitude.  S^&*  

With holding privilege does not necessitate borish behaviour. *#%! it just shows you are not worth any effort from a fellow human being. Make sense?  Are the Singaporean woman educated, stupid or What?

Go shovel snow, fix the plumbing, carry the grocery, repair the car, heck! do the laundry, cook dinner, keep house, tile the roof or something. These are things woman elsewhere do on a regular basis, but not the Singaporean Princess?  %*@*.  SssPPoiLTTT as in PCK.

Yawn!   start the ball rolling -  compare the expatriate woman with the Singapore girlie.  

[Fair Lady]

Are you labelling ALL Singapore women as spoilt or are you not? Must be a boring weekend for you to start this thread...
I wouldn't be so dumb as to make sweeping insulting statements like you did but I do believe ALL women and men for that matter LOVES being pampered...don't you?  
Using SM Lee's name may make you smug but look at yourself in the mirror and take a really good look at your failings before you cast stones at others.
Get out of the house and do something! Like we locals say - ' So free izit? Nothing better to do ah?'

[Expat lady]

Um..I hope you are just having a BAD day, dear. Haven't you noticed that most Singaporean women work for the most part? Why? Because it sure beats sitting at home with the kids while your mind and career rots away  or gathering for playgroups with women you'd otherwise NEVER hang out with except here.

Hell, more power to those women, local and expat, who are NOT afraid of hiring maids and going out to reclaim their own lives. Some of us came here precisely so we wouldn't have to shovel snow, etc. etc.

But I am concerned as to where all that bitterness in you comes from ...

[Poppette]

Bonjourno Milano,

shovel snow - no freaking snow here mate so shovel your ar*e  

fix the plumbing - this is a specialised job, and men about the house always wanna show off that they r the handyman. Dur, call the professionals.

carry the grocery - i carry all me groceries but it's more of a courtesy to help a lady if the bags are really heavy. Sorry, our body mass is different from the male of the species but again, do u know wot it takes to 'bake' for 9 months and give birth. Just imagine that YOU have a baby pop out from the tip of your errr ... genitalia.

repair the car - sorry, don't drive  

do the laundry - been doing it since i was 18.

cook dinner - more than u made curry!!

keep house - since the age of 9

tile the roof - no need lah, most of us live in hDB not bungalow  

I dunno what gave you the idea but, most Singapore girls start young doing household chores. It's the local boys that are spoilt. If so much as a plate is left in the sink after a meal, Mom comes nagging for hours ... but brother gets away scot free. Samw goes with household chores so Milano, i have no idea why u getting your knickers twisted. Maybe the girl u were with is just one of the kind or maybe she's from a family of butlers and maids and chauffuers. Just your luck eh mate.  

[Prada]

I concur with the writer that there are enough silly young things in maid-bred Singapore to generalise as SPOILT. They lived such sheltered lives that the slightest inconvenience is a
disaster of immense proportion that only the Manfolk should shoulder. Like Popette said, there aint no snow in the driveway to shovel perhaps pay dirt in Tekong will do and I am no floozy. Just grateful for what Singapore is offering me.

[Mo3]

My word, do you know the real cost of schlepping for oneself?  It's the thing that the majority of the men here have been griping about.  Yeah, the women might be self-sufficient, but often times we gripe, whine, whinge at the end of the day to men who often don't want to hear it.  Moreover, in doing everything for others, when is there time left for the gym, the facials, the manicures and the fab nights out that leave one feeling hip and refreshed?
Gripe all you want about the Singaporean ladies, but a read of these forums leaves the impression that men are happier with them than with the alternative.  I'm flattered that you think I'm an attractive option (and endlessly thankful that my husband does, too), but the bottom line is is that you haven't seen me and you haven't heard me at the end of my self-sufficient day.
Expat Lady, go easy on those of us that chose to stay home.  Although aggravating and challenging,  I wouldn't exactly call my job mind rotting.  Out maneuver a four-year smack dab in the middle of a tantrum.  I doubt even Solomon's wisdom would be up to the task.  When I practiced law, I thought multi-tasking was having me working on the intricacies of a given case, while letting my secretary take care of the standard formalities of another.  Once I stayed home, I found the true meaning of multi-tasking when I found myself leafing through some legal documents (pro-bono, of course)with my left hand, helping my four year old with a picture using my right hand and rocking my new-born with my leg while the secretary pulled some other documents for me.  The harder decision has been in NOT returning to the glitz and power of my former position, especially in a place like Singapore where women are expected to utilize maids.  I respect your decision to go out and work; it'd be nice if my decision to stay in and work could also be respected.

[expat lady]

Hey Mo3,

No disrespect intended at all but I've been there done that with two kids 16 months apart and although it may be good for the heart & soul, it can be mind-rotting stuff.  (How many moms have you seen who look like the living dead with their kids at Tanglin Mall?) Having slogged it for four years with zero support and a hubby forever traveling, I have utmost respect for SAHMs - especially single moms.

But seriously, the writer's bigotry is pretty disgusting. I don't think she realizes that the local woman she is describing makes up a small but very visible percentage of the population -- the population that hangs around the districts that she, as an expat who is likely benefiting from an inflated salary, can afford. Ask her to drive around the housing *** where 80% of the population lives and then generalize about how pampered they are.

[Poppette]

opps, Milano, are u woman??

Anyways, i have a wicked thought. Maybe she wants women to shed any trace of feminity and turn butch?

(no offence to anyone homosexual   ).  

[This message has been edited by Poppette (edited 12-08-2001).]

[fyi ...]

hey milano,

how many REAL singapore ladies do you actually know or has it been just your 'misfortune' to hang around the jet-setters and the tai-tais .. you have to be privileged yourself to be in within that niche anyways - what are you griping about?

i've read on the internet and know for a fact from my friends that the real s'pore mom is one of the near wonders of the modern world ..

she is expected to work (how else can they pay off or work their way to that million-dollar mortgage and the $150,000 car?) and we know jobs are not mere 9-5sers in spore.

on top of that, coordinate the children's after-school activities, supervise the maid (if she has one), organise the housekeeping and household after work, make the children practise piano and then drill the children in preparation for their numerous tests to ensure they get into that coveted SAP school or gifted programme before bedtime (school starts at 7.20am the next day)!

how does she ever take a breather?

weekends are taken up with purposeful grocery shopping, visits to the maternal-paternal grandparents, more extracurricular activities for the kids.
sunday itself is work (but just of a different nature) day since it's normally the maid's day off.
just venture into a typical HDB estate (where maids are NOT always the norm) ...

[Webmaster]

wah lau! never die before, is it? I wouldn't be making such sweeping offensive statements if I were you, dahling..

yes, I am a Singapore girl- a princess, no less. I don't shovel snow, fix the plumbing, repair the car, tile the roof, do the laundry, cook dinner or keep the house.. I don't have to. does that make me a spoilt brat?

I pay for lunches and dinners, I took care of the bills, drag the damn groceries and I work just as hard as my male counterparts. and I can't stand whiny men. I depend on me. still not good, enough?

[Southerner.]

quote [yes, I am a Singapore girl- a princess, no less. I don't shovel snow, fix the plumbing, repair the car, tile the roof, do the laundry, cook dinner or keep the house.. I don't have to. does that make me a spoilt brat?]  unquote

And many bad winters will follow you with an attitude like that.  Not to mention the summers that are often accompanied with natural calamity.

What's life like without a capable husband and more importantly a able maid for the " air-conditioned " Singapore girl. I presume.

[Webmaster]

what attitude? oh puhleese, I don't even have to have a capable husband or an able maid to live a life like that. and stop assuming. not every 'air-conditioned Singapore girl' comes with a capable husband or maid. who needs either when you are capable yourself?

[Poppette]

i got aircon but got no maid, no husband (yet) and i'm fine like that just happeee i dun have to sleep in this freaking heat... always 19 degrees spring- autumn weather Nice  

Cn never understand how office people pile sweaters, cardies and thick wooly jackets when the aircon is not even near 20 degrees. Hahahaaaaaaaa.... me mom used to joke - they eat porridge and don't eat beef so got little 'yang'. Hahhaaaa...

[Pinkerton]

  ...spoilt? Nah, they never mind swallowing.

[Aiyoh!!!]

Milano.....

Did you just hv a bad experience with some local girl here?

Stop generalising that all us Spore girls - SPOILT! In my household we girls are taught the basics of housekeeping since like were 8 or 9 yrs old...........

Not all of us who lives in HDB can afford an air-con unit- so we make do with the fans....

But I'm not saying that the type of girls you described doesn't exist - theyre around!
But these are the lucky ones that are born with silverspoons literally shoved in their mouths while others hv wooden or cheapo plastic spoons (the ones from the hawkers)to make do with.

There's different type of girls for different type of men - may I suggest you take a personality test to find a suitable kind of gal for you???