Checha Davies, Singapore's pioneering women's rights activist | On The Shoulders Of Giants
A powerful force for change, Checha Davies never shied away from advocacy, championing legal reforms for women in an era where society was dominated by men.
Change was hardly easy - Checha would find herself questioned by women if there was truly a need to do more for Singapore.
Yet Checha was unwavering in her dedication to empowering women, even selling off her house to help fund a women's hostel.
Her persistent efforts in fighting for gender equality would transform the social landscape of Singapore forever.
Watch more: https://www.asiaone.com/video
Change was hardly easy - Checha would find herself questioned by women if there was truly a need to do more for Singapore.
Yet Checha was unwavering in her dedication to empowering women, even selling off her house to help fund a women's hostel.
Her persistent efforts in fighting for gender equality would transform the social landscape of Singapore forever.
Watch more: https://www.asiaone.com/video
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:00In the early 1950s, it was unheard of for a group of women
00:06to initiate legal reforms, especially on a subject like women's rights.
00:13She was actually being questioned by the women
00:17whether there was a need for us to do more for women in Singapore
00:19to which she replied, do not be fooled by what you see
00:22and with that she remained very much resolute in her push for equal status of women.
00:30Chetcha Devi's Mother
00:32Chetcha Devi's Grandmother
00:34Chetcha Devi's Grandmother
00:36Chetcha Devi's Grandmother
00:38Chetcha Devi's Grandmother
00:40Chetcha Devi's Grandmother
00:42We were always proud of our grandma,
00:44someone who wasn't scared to rock the boat,
00:47not scared to be different and stand up for what she believed in
00:51and to change things that she didn't feel were right.
00:55Chetcha Devis was born in 1898 in the Malabar region of Kerala, India.
01:00Now Chetcha was highly educated.
01:02She had a master's degree.
01:04If you have a master's degree before the war, that's somebody.
01:07In fact, I believe that she might have been the first woman
01:11to have graduated from Kerala with a master's degree.
01:16With her master's in economics and English history,
01:19Chetcha followed her father's footsteps and became an educator.
01:24My grandmother really admired her father.
01:28She called him a saintly man, a man of service
01:33and one who really wanted to make a difference with people around him.
01:37Chetcha joined the Young Women's Christian Association,
01:40known as the YWCA, in 1916 in India.
01:44She was a very keen Christian but very non-traditional
01:48because she really encouraged people to live by their beliefs
01:52rather than just go to church every day.
01:54You know, it was about living the Christian life,
01:56of being able to make a difference in the betterment of the world.
02:00Chetcha was most interested in helping the less privileged
02:06and most of the underprivileged at that time happened to be women.
02:12The YWCA, they championed things like adult education for girls
02:19which were non-existent during that time,
02:22classes for children and hostels for young women
02:27who come to a big city to find work.
02:31In 1925, Grandma moved from Kerala to Singapore as a young bride
02:37after getting married because Grandpa Edward had a teaching post in Singapore.
02:43Despite having to adapt to her new surroundings,
02:46Chetcha's desire to help the underprivileged took precedence
02:50and she remained active in church work and various voluntary sectors
02:54such as the Singapore extension of the YWCA.
02:59She would always initiate things like earthquake relief for instance
03:04or the giving of food to DD families.
03:07She was also giving a lot of money to charity.
03:10Grandma lived a very simple life.
03:12She didn't believe in spending a lot on her own personal things
03:16but she was generous without a second thought.
03:19If someone needed something, she'd be happy to help them
03:22and many people would go to her and ask for money.
03:26Chetcha's kindness was, however, sometimes taken advantage of.
03:31Some people would come up to her with some sad stories
03:34and try to get some money out of her
03:37and she would find a way to help them.
03:39And sometimes it was abused and so friends would say,
03:43Chetcha, you know some people are taking advantage of you.
03:47You shouldn't be so generous with your money.
03:49But Grandma would say, I can't stop being generous
03:52because of some people who take advantage of me
03:55because what would happen to those who genuinely need my help
03:58and I would like to help them.
04:00That's what is most important.
04:02In the late 1960s, as the president of the YWCA,
04:07she spearheaded the fundraising for the YWCA 6-storey Fort Canning Hostel
04:12which at that time was the largest hostel for female workers.
04:17The YWCA Fort Canning Hostel was very significant when it was built
04:22because at that time, lodgings were very unsafe for young women
04:27coming from rural areas to a big city to find work.
04:31So the YWCA provided much needed safe space for young women.
04:38The hostel also provided vocational training skills
04:42which were useful for them to find jobs later on in their lives.
04:49My grandmother always had fun and unique ways to raise funds
04:53and her idea to raise funds for the hostel extension
04:58was she decided to give a gold sovereign for each pound of weight that she had.
05:03And so she excitedly weighed herself and was happy to donate.
05:08This in turn inspired other women to follow suit
05:11and to donate their weight in money as well.
05:15When the YWCA was still short on funds to complete the hostel building,
05:19Chae Cha even sold her house that she inherited in Johor
05:24to help fund the lift for the hostel.
05:27We didn't get shocked. That was grandma.
05:30If she believed in something, she would do it.
05:33Beyond starting fundraisers and making donations,
05:36Chae Cha even co-founded various social organisations for women
05:40like the Inner Wheel Club and the Lotus Club.
05:43The Lotus Club was the first Indian women's association
05:47and she got women a place to come to talk about social issues,
05:53to do some charitable work, to learn some useful skills
05:57and also had a series of educational talks for Indian women.
06:02The idea was to create an organisation where Indian women of all creed,
06:07caste, culture and education could meet regularly
06:11as the existing Indian association at that time mainly catered to men.
06:16So that was good because it gave women some friendship outside the home
06:21because women in those days just kept to their homes
06:23and were just looking after their children.
06:26In 1950, after the Japanese occupation,
06:29the Lotus Club merged with another Indian ladies' club then,
06:33the Ladies' Union, to form the Kamala Club, which still exists to this day.
06:39The success of the Lotus Club was merely a glimpse
06:43of the achievements that Chae Cha would go on to accomplish.
06:47Being leader of the Inner Wheel,
06:49she represented Singapore at a very historic conference
06:53called the Pan-Asian Conference held in Delhi, 1947.
06:58This Pan-Asian Conference discussed many, many things,
07:03not just issues of independence,
07:05not just issues of economics or finance,
07:09but also about the status of women.
07:12She also met many Asian leaders there,
07:16like Shireen Foster, who was a prominent advocate of women's rights.
07:21This meeting with Shireen would eventually pave the way for something greater.
07:31In 1951, Chae Cha was approached by Shireen
07:34to form the Committee of the Singapore Council of Women, SCW,
07:39alongside several other women.
07:41There were already many women's organisations,
07:45many of them.
07:46But this one, Singapore Council of Women, was different.
07:51It was not just a social help or mutual help group,
07:56like many of the women's associations of that time.
07:59It was an advocacy group for women's rights.
08:03It's going to unite all the different women's organisations
08:07into a united front, because unity is strength.
08:12And it is going to fight, to push for legislative changes.
08:18The first of the legislative changes will be one man, one wife.
08:23At that point in time, it was a society where men could have many wives,
08:30and they could also divorce their wives very easily.
08:34There was actually no legal obligation for them
08:36to care for the wife and the children after divorce.
08:39So that actually led to a lot of social issues.
08:42You have a lot of women who were not able to support themselves
08:45without the security and the provisions from the husband,
08:49which is why the SCW wanted to push for the end of polygamous marriages.
08:54The SCW was the city's first female civil rights group
08:59that took bold steps to champion legal reforms
09:02that addressed gender disparity.
09:05In the early 1950s, it was unheard of for a group of women
09:12to initiate legal reforms, especially on a subject like women's rights.
09:19The media mocked these women.
09:22They had a fun time with them,
09:24because they found their agenda rather far-fetched, rather idealistic.
09:30Chetcha had the momentous task of recruiting more women in Singapore
09:34to the women's rights cause, which ironically proved challenging.
09:39Recruitment was difficult, because at that time, in the 1950s,
09:45there was a stigma to the women's cause,
09:49and many women were afraid to sign.
09:53Many of them felt they had to ask their husbands' permission.
09:58Chetcha, in fact, was even being questioned
10:00by the women in the society at that point,
10:04whether there was a need for an organization like SCW.
10:07To which she replied,
10:08do not be fooled by what you see,
10:10and that there is actually no equal status for women at all.
10:14And with that, she remained very, very much resolute
10:17in her push for equal status of women.
10:20By 1955, SCW's membership peaked at 2,000 members,
10:26making it the largest group of its kind for the next 50 years.
10:31Where did the 2,000 women members come from?
10:34Thanks to Chetcha.
10:35Chetcha had a very wide connection.
10:37She had been working for a few decades before
10:40on the Lotus Club, on the International Women's Club,
10:43the Innerview, the YWCA,
10:45and she was able to get them and say,
10:47come, come and join us.
10:48Let's get together.
10:49Let's forget our differences.
10:51Let's fight for equality.
10:56Chetcha and the Singapore Council of Women
10:59had to plan their movements with precision
11:03to bring forward their agenda.
11:06And they wrote letters to the press,
11:09they gave talks,
11:11they went out and distributed flyers,
11:14and so forth.
11:16They even drafted, with Chetcha's help,
11:19because she had a master's degree,
11:21with Chetcha's help,
11:22a bill for the Legislative Council
11:25demanding equal rights,
11:27equal status for women,
11:29demanding one man, one wife,
11:31the abolition of polygamy.
11:34And this was sent to the Legislative Council in 1954.
11:39Unfortunately, it failed to be moved.
11:42This setback, however, did not faze Chetcha and the SCW.
11:47These women summoned their courage
11:50and their fortitude and prayers on.
11:53Between 1955 and 1959,
11:56Chetcha and the SCW lobbied various political parties in Singapore
12:01to address women's injustices.
12:04The People's Action Party,
12:06influenced by its Women's League led by Chan Choy Siong,
12:09took a strong stand on women's rights
12:12and adopted the SCW's one man, one wife slogan
12:16for their campaign.
12:19In the 1959 general elections,
12:22the PAP's victory, with 43 out of 51 seats,
12:27led to their control of the Legislative Assembly.
12:31And in 1961,
12:33the Women's Charter Bill was finally passed,
12:36marking the culmination of Chetcha and the SCW's
12:40decade-long fight for women's rights.
12:43For women, it was definitely a landmark bill
12:47and it changed Singapore society forever.
12:54The Women's Charter meant that
12:56women were now protected by marriage,
13:00that their husband cannot just divorce them at will,
13:04their husband cannot just take a second wife,
13:07and their husband has to pay them some alimony
13:10if they actually want to get a divorce.
13:13It also recognises the rights of women
13:16to contribute to the economic fibre of society
13:20and not just the family.
13:23So this set the foundation
13:25for the future prosperity and progress of Singapore
13:31as a modern nation.
13:34Beyond the Women's Charter,
13:36Chetcha and the SCW have left behind
13:41an unforgettable legacy
13:43and they blaze an entirely new path
13:47for future organisations
13:50in championing gender equality and women's rights
13:55like the SCWO, Singapore Council Women's Organisation, today.
14:01SCWO's key focus is on changing mindsets
14:06because that is crucial to eliminating and breaking down
14:09the gender stereotypes that still exist today.
14:11And we do this through the various programmes that we have
14:14like outreach programmes, educational programmes
14:17that bring stories of women like Chetcha to the community
14:20including our younger generation, both boys and girls.
14:23The ultimate aim is really to have a society
14:27where both men and women play equal roles at all levels
14:31whether it's at home, at work or in the community.
14:36Chetcha was awarded the Bintan Bakti Masyarakat
14:39or Public Service Star
14:41in the 1970 National Day Honours
14:44and in 2014, she was inducted into the Singapore Women's Hall of Fame.
14:49Grandma was absolutely a role model to us
14:52and I'd like to think that in many ways
14:54me, my mother and each of my sisters
14:58have followed in her footsteps.
15:00Sushil and her sisters are all involved in various forms
15:04of social action and community building
15:07focusing on children, youth, women's empowerment and equality.
15:12The last time I saw Grandma was at her 80th birthday celebration in 1978.
15:20I remember I was in Fiji by then
15:23and my husband and I came from Fiji for this gathering.
15:27We sang, we celebrated, we had so much fun.
15:32Lots of people that knew her were at this event
15:35and it was a wonderful occasion.
15:39And in 1979, my grandmother passed away.
15:44Chetcha was a leader.
15:46She had the vision and the audacity and the courage
15:50to dream of a better world
15:53and a better future for all Singaporeans.
15:57I hope for my grandma to be remembered as a trailblazer
16:01as someone who wasn't scared to rock the boat
16:04to do what she can for the betterment of those around her.
16:08I'm truly thankful for what women like Chetcha did for Singapore.
16:12She fought tirelessly for the rights of women
16:15and she never gave up.
16:19If not for women like Chetcha
16:22Singapore might not be what it is today.
16:45SINGAPORE INTERNATIONAL FOUNDATION