Dr. York CHOW

ChairpersonEqual Opportunities Commission

Hong Kong

23 July 2013

Women’s Equal Opportunities

– The Hong Kong

Experience 1

Historical Review (I)

Before 1960s:

women were mostly family carers.

1960s:

Creation of a vast amount of blue-collar and white-collar job opportunities;

 Higher education level, simpler family structure, and better employment opportunities and economic prospects also encouraged more women to participate in economic activities.

 1970s:  

The Government started to provide 6-year free basic education to local boys and girls in 1971 and the free education was extended to a period of 9 years in 1978.;

In 1975, female civil servants began to enjoy equal pay as their male counterparts.

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Historical Review (II)

1980s and 1990s: Legislation was passed for paid maternity leave; the enactment of the former Domestic Violence Ordinance; the passage of the Inland Revenue (Amendment) Ordinance, which provided for separate taxation for married women; the right for female indigenous villagers to inherit land in the New Territories in the absence of a will; the enactment of the Sex Discrimination Ordinance and the establishment of the Equal Opportunities Commission.

Extension of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) to Hong Kong.

21st Century:Since the 1980s, local women’s groups have been advocating the establishment of a central mechanism on women’s affairs. The Government set up Women’s Commission on 15 January 2001.

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Legal Protection against Sex Discrimination

The Basic LawThe Hong Kong Bill of Rights OrdinanceInternational Covenant on Civil and Political

Rights (ICCPR)International Covenant on Economic, Social and

Cultural Rights (ICESCR)Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of

Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW)Sex Discrimination Ordinance (SDO)Family Status Discrimination Ordinance (FSDO)

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Birth of the Sex Discrimination Ordinance

Sexual Discrimination Ordinance – a private initiative

Ms Anna Wu, the then legislative councillor , introduced the Equal Opportunities Bill (EOB) in the form of a Private Member’s Bill in the Legislative Council of Hong Kong in 1994.

Outlawing discrimination on various grounds including sex, disability, family responsibility, sexuality, age, race, religious, etc. Under pressure, the Government agreed to introduce

legislation against sex and disability discrimination (the Sex Discrimination Bill and Disability Discrimination Bill).

The Sex Discrimination Ordinance was passed in 1995.

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The Sex Discrimination Ordinance (SDO)

Outlaw discrimination on the basis of sex, marital status and pregnancy, and sexual harassment;

Examples: Cannot dismiss or transfer a pregnant woman into a lower paying

position; Unlawful for an employer to discriminate against a job applicant on

the basis of sex unless if a person's sex is a genuine occupational qualification for the job.

Applies to both males and females;Code of Practice on employment under the SDO;

Provides for the establishment of the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC).

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Protection in Seven Fields under the SDO7

Enquiries & Complaints related to Sex Discrimination

Sex Discrimination Ordinance Related Enquiries & Complaints

An average of 87% of the complaints related to sex discrimination are made lodged by women for the past three and a half years.

An average of 94% of sexual harassment complaints are raised by women from January 2010 to June 2013.

2010 2011 2012 2013 (Jan-June)

No. of SDO related enquiries

822 878 1045 604

No. of SDO related complaints

303 262 282 110

No. of pregnancy discrimination complaints

150 130 97 43

No. of sexual harassment complaints

83 64 115 43

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Family Status Discrimination Ordinance

Passed in 1997.

Unlawful for anyone or any organisation to discriminate against a person, male or female, on the basis of family status.

Applies to the same seven areas as what the SDO covers .

Example: An employer CANNOT turn down an employee’s promotion

or transfer him/her because of his/her family status, e.g. after knowing that the employee is the only carer of his/her young son at home .

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The Equal Opportunities Commission

A statutory body established under the SDO on 20 May 1996.

Commenced operation on 20 September 1996.Independent of the Government .S63(7) of the SDO: the EOC “shall not be

regarded as a servant, or agent of the Government” .

Accountable to the public .Governed by a Board comprising of a full-time 　

Chairperson and 16 members from different backgrounds .

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Main Objectives of the EOC11

What the EOC does (I)12

What the EOC does (II)13

What the EOC has done to achieve

Women’s Equal Opportunities

Elimination of Discriminatory Advertisements;

Remove the gender-based discriminatory elements in the Secondary School Places Allocation (SSPA) System;

Eliminate Gender Stereotyping in Textbooks;Cracking the Dress Code Combating Pregnancy Discrimination; andEliminate Sexual Harassment.

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Discriminatory Advertisements

Unlawful to publish discriminatory Advertisements under the discrimination ordinances in HK, including the SDO and the FSDO.

(i) Education and publicity:

The EOC regularly monitor recruitment advertisements and work closely with publishers, advertisers and employment agencies;

(ii) Legal proceedings The EOC has power under the discrimination ordinances to bring

legal proceedings against publishers and advertisers.

In the year 1997/98, the EOC has taken court action on 18 advertisements appearing in 5 newspapers and fines were imposed.

(iii) Significant drop in discriminatory advertisements: December 1996 -- 37% advertisements in print media were

discriminatory; March 1998 – Less than 1%.

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Fostering Fairer Access to Education

Secondary School Places Allocation (SSPA) System A System used by the Education Department to allocate places for

Primary 6 students into Secondary Schools since 1978.

Formal Investigation The EOC received complaints. Formal investigation by the EOC into

SSPA System started in September; The SSPA System was discriminatory on the basis of sex in 3 areas:

a. the scaling of internal assessment scores using separate gender curves;

b. the banding of students by sex; and

c. the sex quotas for placement in co-educational secondary schools. The SSPA system led to systematic scaling down of the best girls’

scores and scaling up the best boys’ scores which restricted girls’ access to the best schools.

The EOC recommended: the Government should develop an allocation system without any discriminatory elements to ensure that boys and girls are placed into secondary schools fairly.

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Fostering Fairer Access to Education

Judicial Review of the SSPA System

August 1999 – The EOC investigation report found that the SSPA system discriminatory;

April 2000 – The Education Department (ED) said that there were good reasons to keep the SSPA System as it was;

July 2000 – The EOC applied to the court for judicial review of the SSPA System;

June 2001 -- The High Court ruled that all three gender-based mechanisms in the SSPA System challenged by the EOC are discriminatory and unlawful under the SDO;

July 2001 – The ED introduced relief measures to place affected students;

2002 – The ED removed the 3 gender-based features of the SSPA System with effect from the 2002 allocation.

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Gender Stereotyping in Textbooks

Content analysis on textbooks and teaching materials in respect of stereotyping was conducted in late 1999;

Examined nearly 70,000 references to human characters and interviewed students, teachers and publishers;

Analysis showed: Female characters occurred less often than male; Reinforced traditional family roles with the father working

and contributing to society with achievers tending to be male, while mothers stayed at home; and

There was only one mention of single parenthood. The study also prepared a set of guidelines for the

development of education materials;and Teacher and publishers agreed that guidelines would be a

useful reference in avoiding stereotypes in educational materials.

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Cracking the Dress Code

2010 The EOC granted legal assistance to a complainant who alleged that she was discriminated against by the school on the ground of her sex by imposing on her a dress code under which all female teachers were required to wear a dress or a skirt to work, and eventually she was pressurized to resign;

The case raises a question of sex discrimination in the field of employment; and

After a writ was issued by the EOC, the school agreed to settle the matter giving an apology and monetary payment to the complainant. The school also undertook to review its dress code.

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Eliminate Pregnancy Discrimination

1. Resignation under pressure is a dismissal: February 2001 – the Court ruled that the

employer discriminated against the plaintiff because of her pregnancy, and that she was victimized after she had lodged a complaint with the EOC.

The ruling made it clear that a resignation under pressure would be treated as constructive dismissal.

2. Set precedent by awarding damages in a pregnancy discrimination case:

May 2003 – The Court held that an elderly home unlawfully discriminated against a pregnant woman by refusing to employ her as a supervisor.

The Court awarded damages of 3 different components: Loss of income; Injury to feelings; and Punitive damages.

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Eliminate Sexual Harassment

Court case: In 2010, an employer was held by the Court that it was vicariously

liable for employee’s act of sexual harassment as it did not take reasonable practicable steps to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace.

Damages of HK$80,000 was awarded to the complainant.

Surveys in 2011 and 2013: An EOC survey on the Students’ Sexual Attitudes and Views on Sexual

Harassment found that 50% of the responded students experienced various forms of sexual harassment during the past one year.

An EOC questionnaire survey found that 47% of the 321 respondents said that their schools have not yet adopted any sexual harassment policy.

Seminars: The EOC held 4 seminars in early July to promote the formulation of a

comprehensive and effective sexual harassment policy in schools; more than 800 school principals, vice-principals and senior teachers attended.

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Women in the Labour Force

Labour Force and Labour Force Participation Rates 　 of Hong Kong (LFPRs) by Sex

Source: Census and Statistics Department

Male Female

Period Number (’000)

LFPR (%) Number (’000)

LFPR (%)

1982 1 600.3 81.3 897.8 47.5

1987 1 727.5 80.3 1000.7 48.7

1992 1 766.0 78.1 1026.3 46.3

1997 1 954.9 75.1 1279.9 47.9

2002 1 958.1 72.4 1514.5 51.9

2007 1 953.6 70.4 1668.7 53.1

2012 1 972.1 68.7 1813.1 53.6

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Educational Attainment

Number of Female Students in University Grants Committee-Funded Programmes (Excluding Sub-degree programmes)

Source: Women’s Commission

Women’s Population in Hong Kong (Foreign Domestic Helper Excluded)

Source: Census and Statistics Department

Sex 1986/87 1991/92 1996/97 2001/02 2006/07 2010/11

Female 6,660

(37.2%)

15,833

(41.2%)

28,939

(46.2%)

32,612

(51.5%)

32,917

(52.3%)

35,516

(52.5%)

1996 2001 2006 2011

Population 3,067,000 3,209,600 3,362,900 3,480,700

Proportion 48.8% 49.5% 50.7% 51.3%

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Women Professionals

1. Certified Public AccountantsThousands (%)

Source: Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants

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Women Professionals (II)

2. Solicitors Holding Practising CertificatesThousands (%)

Source: The Law Society of Hong Kong

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Women Professionals (III)

3. Fully Qualified EngineersThousands (%)

Source: The Hong Kong Institution of Engineers

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Women in Poverty

Poverty Rate by Sex in Hong Kong (2001 – 2011)

Source: The Hong Kong Council of Social Service

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Employment Earnings (2010)

Source: Women’s Commission

Educational Attainment

Median (HK$)

Female Male

No schooling / Pre-primary

5,500 7,500

Primary 6,000 9,000

Lower secondary

6,800 9,500

Upper secondary / Sixth-form

10,000 11,500

Post-secondary: non-degree

12,000 14,000

Post-secondary: degree

20,000 28,000

Overall 10,000 12,000

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Women on Board

Aggregate percentage of women on boards in 2011

Global 10.5%

Hong Kong 9.4%

China 8.5%

Japan 1.1%

South Korea 1.9%

India 5.2%

Taiwan 5.8%

Singapore 7.0%

UK 10.7%

USA 12.6%

Norway 36.3%

Source: GMI Rating’s 2012 Women on Boards Survey

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Social and Political Participation

1. Female Members in Legislature/Lower House of Parliament

2. Female Directorate Officers in the Civil Service Source: Census and Statistics Department

Legislative Council of Hong Kong(2012-2016)

World Eastern Asia Western Europe

Proportion 16% 17% 14% 29%

Source: Legislative Council of Hong Kong and Department of Economic and Social Affairs, United Nations

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My Dream

“You may say I’m a dreamerBut I’m not the only one

I hope someday you’ll join usAnd the world will be as One”

～ IMAGINE by John Lennon

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