Ms Samantha Brick will be enemy No. 1 for the women's rights movement.

While activists are working tirelessly to empower women, here is one who has no qualms about being the very antithesis of it.

Ms Brick doesn't mind being a trophy wife - she is proud of it.

She doesn't do anything without her husband, Mr Pascal Rubinat's, permission.

In an article for the Daily Mail, she says that she even asks his permission to book a hair appointment and will "discuss with him what I will have done".

Ms Brick may not fit the classic image of a trophy wife - with an hour-glass figure and making the latest fashion statement - but she is trying her very best day after day.

She writes: "He even has an opinion - which I adhere to - on how I dress and what I weigh.

"He prefers I wear classic ladylike attire."

And, says the 1.8m-tall Ms Brick: "He insists I tip the scale at no more than 66kg. He's there when I weigh myself."

Mr Rubinat, a Frenchman, has particularly traditional views, she writes.

He is 10 years older than she is and always makes it a point, unashamedly, to tell people that he chose her for her looks.

He is a successful businessman, which leaves Ms Brick with the unenviable task of looking good 24/7.

She says: "But that doesn't make me a designer-clad airhead who's only interested in getting my hands on his cash."

She says that she got out of her first marriage simply because she was earning more than her younger and "prettier" husband, and was tired of writing cheques all the time.

So what do Singaporean women have to say about the likes of Ms Brick? Reactions are mixed.

Mrs Rosalynn Tay, socialite wife and mother who declines to reveal her age, tells The New Paper on Sunday: "My husband is my mirror. I show him first what I am wearing out, and he is proud of me when I look good.

"Women should work on looking good, because it makes you confident and happy. I enjoy dressing up, now that I've done my duty as a mother."

Says prominent socialite Tjin Lee, who doesn't want to reveal her age: "Being a trophy wife is a subjective thing. If wearing what makes your husband happy makes you happy, then kudos to you.

"It's better for the fashion industry. Do support Singapore design though," says the businesswoman with her own events company.

Mrs Dimple Aswani, who declines to reveal her age, describes herself as a mother first and wife second.

She says being a trophy wife and looking nice are two different things.

She says: "I have loved dressing up since I was a little girl, but I am not a trophy wife. My husband would be okay with it either way. He likes me to look and feel good."

Ms Brick has one thing to tell her critics: "I'm comfortable with my trophy-wife status for two reasons: Pascal and I are deeply in love and I adore being treated like a princess. And even in these egalitarian times, many people enjoy this kind of marriage - even if most are shy of the 'trophy wife' tag."

Ms Brick says since the time their romance blossomed, a day has not passed where she hasn't made an effort with her appearance.

She says it pains her to read when women like US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton feel they've reached an age when they nolonger need make-up.

She says: "If a woman doesn't make an effort, it's perfectly logical that her husband will assume it's because she feels he's not worth making an effort for. Can you then blame a man for looking elsewhere? A trophy wife, however, would never make such a mistake."

That's why she does not make the "mistake of suffering from headaches when I'm between the sheets or feign sleepiness when my husband makes amorous advances".

She says: "Each afternoon, before his siesta, I massage his head and shoulders with lavender oil. When he arrives home in the evening, I greet him with an aperitif.

"Having been married before, we both know about modern relationships - shouty, stressed wives trying (and failing) to do it all, husbands who stay out all hours to avoid the messy domestic scene at home, only convenience food on the table and growing resentment destroying the relationship."

Mr Jesse Chan, a 23-year-old Singaporean undergraduate, thinks that she has defined what it means to be a trophy wife quite articulately.

He says: "People are reacting to the word 'trophy'. There are some things within that definition which are respectable and honourable, such as making sure she looks good and gives him a massage. But it's not enough.

"She needs to have opinion and a bit of unpredictability.

"But if you force me to choose between a woman who is opinionated and very difficult to live with and the trophy wife, I would pick the latter because she's easier to live with."

Ms Brick writes that she knows her place in the home and that she's a "consummate professional" - in the bedroom or the kitchen.

A married Singaporean housewife in her 30s dismisses Ms Brick's way of thinking. She says: "She says she's smart, but she gives complete control to her husband... Which smart, dignified woman would do that?

"She implies that all rich men are only looking for submissive, pretty, young wives who have no will, no desire and no purpose in life so the husband can turn the wife into their dream girl.

"I know many successful men who would leave a relationship like this after a while cause they get bored with this kind of wife.

"And I know many successful men who respect and love their wives all the more because they have a life of their own and live it, not just for the husband."

This article was first published in The New Paper.