The Act was designed to improve and protect the rights of women in Singapore and to guarantee greater legal equality for women in legally sanctioned relationships (except in the area of Muslims marriages, which are governed separately by the Administration of Muslim Law Act).
The Women's Charter was successfully campaigned for by Madam Chan Choy Siong, wife of Ong Pang Boon, a former Cabinet Minister of Singapore.
Latest amendments to the Charter were passed firstly in January 2011 that introduced provisions to facilitate marriages in Singapore, address divorce and its impact and strengthen the enforcement of maintenance orders.
Amendments were passed again on 29 February 2016 after being proposed by the Ministry of Social and Family Development:[3] Around one in five marriages on the island ends in divorce.
[11] Critics also regard the Charter as having transformed from being a safeguard for disadvantaged women into a method of discriminating against men.