Gender representation in geography: Singapore

In Singapore, geography emerged as a strongly masculinist university discipline during the interwar years under colonial rule. Localizing staff hires in the postcolonial era did not immediately produce gender‐balanced staff profiles. Instead, a more equitable gender representation was achieved only in the last decade, following the increasing ‘feminization’ of the student population in the discipline resulting from compulsory National Service for male citizens some two decades earlier and the subsequent ‘drift’ of male students to the hard sciences and engineering. In turn, the current geography curriculum has taken on board a stronger interest in gender issues (including a dedicated gender and geography module) while staff research on gender issues in the context of the Asia‐Pacific region is also making important strides.