Women’s Charter 1961

2020 REVISED EDITION

This revised edition incorporates all amendments up to and including 1 December 2021 and comes into operation on 31 December 2021

An Act to provide for monogamous marriages and for the solemnisation and registration of such marriages; to amend and consolidate the law relating to divorce, the rights and duties of married persons, the protection of family, the maintenance of wives, incapacitated husbands and children and the punishment of offences against women and girls; and to provide for matters incidental thereto.

[7/2016]

[15 September 1961]

PART 1

PRELIMINARY

Short title

1. This Act is the Women’s Charter 1961.

Interpretation

2.—(1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires —

“brothel” means any place —

(a)

habitually used by any 2 or more women or girls (whether or not at the same time or at different times) for the purpose of prostitution;

(b)

that has been used by any 2 or more women or girls (whether or not at the same time or at different times) for the purpose of prostitution and is likely to be used again for that purpose; or

(c)

that —

(i)	has been expressly or implicitly advertised (whether by advertisements in or on the place, newspapers, the Internet or by other means) or represented as being used for the purpose of prostitution; and
(ii)	is likely to be used for the purpose of prostitution;

“club” means any place which is used by an association of 2 or more persons for any purpose or object;

[Deleted by Act 3 of 2022 wef 30/12/2022]

“conciliation officer” means a conciliation officer appointed under section 139C(1);

[Act 3 of 2022 wef 30/12/2022]

“court” —

(a)	for the purposes of sections 20, 21A and 56 and Parts 8 and 10, means the General Division of the High Court or a Family Court; [Act 3 of 2022 wef 25/09/2023]
(b)	for the purposes of Part 7, means a Family Court; and
(c)	for the purposes of Part 9, means the General Division of the High Court or a Family Court, and includes the Syariah Court constituted under the Administration of Muslim Law Act 1966;

[Deleted by Act 3 of 2022 wef 25/09/2023]

“Director‑General”, except in Part 7, means the Director‑General of Social Welfare and includes any person who is authorised by the Director‑General to perform any of the duties or exercise any of the powers of the Director‑General under this Act;

[Act 21 of 2023 wef 02/01/2025]

“fit individual” means an individual whom the Director‑General, having regard to the character of the individual, thinks competent to provide care and protection to another individual;

“incapacitated former husband”, in relation to a dissolved or an annulled marriage, means a former husband to the marriage who —

(a)

during the subsistence of the marriage, was or became —

(i)	incapacitated, by any physical or mental disability or any illness, from earning a livelihood; and
(ii)	unable to maintain himself; and

(b)

continues to be unable to maintain himself;

“incapacitated husband” means a husband who —

(a)

during the marriage, is or becomes —

(i)	incapacitated, by any physical or mental disability or any illness, from earning a livelihood; and
(ii)	unable to maintain himself; and

(b)

continues to be unable to maintain himself;

“licensed solemniser” means a person licensed under section 22(2) to solemnise marriages;

[Act 3 of 2022 wef 25/09/2023]

“marriage licence” means a marriage licence issued by the Registrar under section 17;

[Act 3 of 2022 wef 25/09/2023]

“married woman” means a woman validly married under any law, religion, custom or usage;

“messaging system” means any system that enables the transmission of short text messages, or of any visual communication, voice communication or electronic mail —

(a)	from a digital mobile telephone to another digital mobile telephone; or
(b)	from an electronic mail address to a digital mobile telephone, and the other way around;

[Deleted by Act 3 of 2022 wef 25/09/2023]

“notice of marriage” means a notice of marriage under section 14;

[Act 3 of 2022 wef 25/09/2023]

“occupier” of a place means the tenant, subtenant or lessee thereof or any other person in charge of the place, whether or not in actual occupation and whether or not having powers to let or sublet;

“owner” of a place means a person who, for the time being, has power or authority to let, hire, sell or convey the place to another person, or who receives the rent of the place whether on the person’s own account or as an agent or a trustee for any other person;

“permanent resident of Singapore” means a person who holds an entry permit under section 10 of the Immigration Act 1959 or a re-entry permit under section 11 of that Act;

[Act 3 of 2022 wef 25/09/2023]

“place” means any building, house, office, flat, room or cubicle or any part thereof, and any open or enclosed space and includes a ship, boat or any vessel, whether afloat or not, and any vehicle;

“place of assignation” means any place where communication is established with any woman or girl, either directly or through an intermediary, for any immoral purpose;

“place of public resort” means any place to which the public for the time being has access;

“place of safety” means any place of safety established under section 177;

“prostitution” means the act of a female offering her body for sexual penetration for hire, whether in money or in kind;

“record”, in relation to the State Marriage Register, includes —

(a)	a certificate of marriage created under section 30(2)(a); and
(b)	a certificate of marriage contained in the State Marriage Register before the date of commencement of section 19 of the Women’s Charter (Amendment) Act 2022; [Act 3 of 2022 wef 25/09/2023]

“Registrar” means the Registrar of Marriages appointed under section 26 and includes an Assistant Registrar of Marriages;

“sexual penetration” means the penetration of the vagina, anus or mouth of a woman or girl by a man’s penis, or the sexual penetration of the vagina or anus of a woman or girl by a part of another person’s body (other than the penis) or by anything else;

“solemnisation” includes the contracting of a marriage or effecting a marriage in accordance with the law, religion, custom or usage of the parties or any of the parties thereto;

“special marriage licence” means a special marriage licence granted by the Minister under section 21;

[Act 3 of 2022 wef 25/09/2023]

“State Marriage Register” means the State Marriage Register maintained under section 27.

[27/2014; 7/2016; 30/2019; 36/2019; 40/2019]

(2) In criminal proceedings for an offence under Part 11 in relation to any place —

(a)

a court may rely on circumstantial evidence to find that the particular place is used as a brothel; and

(b)

a court may make such a finding without direct evidence that the particular place is used as a brothel.

Examples of circumstantial evidence

1.	Evidence relating to persons entering and leaving premises (including number, gender and frequency) that is consistent with the use of the premises for prostitution.

2.	Evidence of appointments with persons for the purpose of prostitution that are made through the use of telephone numbers or other contact details that are publicly advertised.

3.	Evidence of the arrangement of, or other matters relating to, the place or the furniture, equipment or articles in the place, that is consistent with the use of the place for prostitution.

[36/2019]

Application

3.—(1) Except as otherwise provided, this Act applies to all persons in Singapore and also applies to all persons domiciled in Singapore.

(1A) It is declared that section 52 applies for the purposes of determining a woman’s domicile for the purposes of subsection (1).

[Act 3 of 2022 wef 30/12/2022]

(2) Parts 2 to 6 (except for sections 6A, 6B and 6C) and Parts 10 and 10A and sections 181 and 182 do not apply to any person who is married under, or to any marriage solemnised or registered under, the provisions of the Muslim law or of any written law in Singapore or in Malaysia providing for the registration of Muslim marriages.

[15/2019]

[Act 3 of 2022 wef 30/12/2022]

(2A) Nothing in Part 8 entitles an incapacitated husband who is married under the provisions of the Muslim law, or of any written law in Singapore or in Malaysia providing for the registration of Muslim marriages, to obtain any maintenance under that Part.

[7/2016]

(3) Despite subsection (2), sections 4, 5 and 6 apply to any person who contracts or purports to contract any such marriage during the subsistence of a marriage registered or deemed to be registered under the provisions of this Act or which was contracted under a law providing that or in contemplation of which the marriage is monogamous.

(4) No marriage between persons who are Muslims shall be solemnised or registered under this Act.

(5) For the purposes of this Act, a person who is a citizen of Singapore is deemed, until the contrary is proved, to be domiciled in Singapore.

Reckoning of age

3A. In reckoning the age of a person for the purposes of this Act —

(a)

the person is taken to have attained a particular age expressed in years on the corresponding anniversary of his or her birth (ignoring any fraction of a day);

(b)

a reference to the anniversary of the person’s birth in paragraph (a) is a reference to the day on which the anniversary occurs; and

(c)

if the person was born on 29 February in any year, then, in any subsequent year that is not a leap year, the anniversary of his or her birth is taken to be 28 February in that subsequent year.

Illustration

A person (N) is born on 21 July 2021. N is taken to attain 18 years of age on the first moment of 21 July 2039 (regardless of the time of the day at which N is born).

[Act 3 of 2022 wef 30/12/2022]

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