Public Symposium and Stakeholder Engagement Forum

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Public Symposium and Stakeholder Engagement Forum
The Status of Women and Girls In Hong Kong March
4, 2006 The full participation of women and
girls in society is not just an admirable goal,
it is vital. In a world facing increasingly
complex problems, no community can afford to
waste the talent of half of its citizens. --
Boutros-Boutros Ghali, Former United Nations
Secretary General
Sponsored by
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Public Symposium and Stakeholder Engagement Forum

• Board of Directors Noriko Honda Chen
• Alicia Kershaw
• Estella Huang Lung
• Shalini Mahtani
• Pamela Smith
• Elisabeth Scott
• Rebecca Woo

• Board of Advisors Cynthia DAnjou Brown
• Cynthia Chung
• Dr. Staci Ford
• Christine Loh

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Special Thanks
Translation sponsored by
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Supporting Organisations
Hong Kong Federation of Womens Centres
Gender research Centre (CUHK)
Thanks also to The Helena May and to the Fund for
Women in Asia, Inc.
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Intern Team
Cynthia Ou, Louise Ng, Shirley Yeung, Cindy Chu
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Vision
A Hong Kong where all residents -- girls boys,
women men thrive by having equal access to
resources and opportunities
Mission
To promote the full participation of women and
girls in all aspects of Hong Kong society through
research, education and public awareness
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Goals

• Mobilize local and international resources
• Commission research on women and girls
• Publish/disseminate research to community
• Convene stakeholders
• Fund strategic solutions

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Symposium Objectives

• Share key findings of benchmark study
• Seek advice and ideas of stakeholders
• Work together to better understand root causes
  and
• develop actionable ideas for positive change

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Agenda
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• There is now overwhelming evidence that women's
  and girls empowerment and economic development
  has the most far reaching effect in improving the
  lives of all... men, women and children.
• -- Nobel Laureate and Economist Amartya Sen,
• at the 2000 Harvard Commencement

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Public Symposium and Stakeholder Engagement Forum
The Status of Women and Girls In Hong Kong March
4, 2006
Sponsored by
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Research Team

• Patricia Chiu April Lai
• Helena Chui Mario Liong
• Heidi Ip Terry Mui
• Iris Kam Emily Ng
• Vanessa Kwok Joyce Tang

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Research Methodology

• Request for proposal
• Interview prospects select team of 10
• Identify 16 topic areas based on CEDAW
• Appoint Research Taskforce
• Collect extant research between 1999-2004
• Outreach to NGOs
• 40 organisations conducted 655 studies
• Academic TWF Board review

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The Case for Research

• Adopting an evidence-based approach to
  developing policies and practices can help
  decision-makers to put down their own assumptions
  that may be grounded in bias and not fact.
• Attitudes and social conditions also change
  constantly what may be accurate today may no
  longer be tomorrow.
• -- Christine Loh

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The Case for Research

• Statistics are unsung yet essential ingredients
  for economic and social progress.
• -- José Antonio Ocampo,
• UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and
  Social Affairs
• One of the most pronounced shortcomings in this
  area with the most damaging effects appears
  in the collection of data disaggregated by sex
  and of data focusing on gender issues.
• -- UN press release

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Women are undervalued

• We know very little, and almost nothing about
  root
• causes
• What we do know women are undervalued and
• under represented in the community
• Women dont seem to believe this can change

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• There are three kinds of lies
• lies, damned lies and statistics.
• -- attributed to Disraeli by Mark Twain

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Data can explode myths

• 60 to 100 million missing women in Asia and North
  Africa is it sex selection?
• Hep B epidemic in Asia and North Africa
• Hep B carriers give birth to 1.5 boys to every
  girl
• Hep B may account for 75 of missing girls in
  China and 20 of them in India

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We need to make the case for improving women and
girls lives

• First, we must convince the community at large
  that
• improving the lives of women will benefit the
  society
• as a whole.
• -- The Status of Women and Girls in
  Hong Kong 2006, Conclusions

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We need to make the case
Womens contributions are meaningful

• 44 of women who work reported being their
  familys main
• source of income
• 60 of women surveyed contributed half the family
  income

Women will need to fully participate in the
economy

• One of the lowest female labor participation
  rates in Asia
• (54), well below the G7 average of 67
• Male labor participation rates are already very
  high (G7
• average of 88 - college educated)

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We need to make the case
Fewer young people and more women

• Lowest birth rate worldwide (7.26/1000)
• Elderly dependency ratio increased from 124 in
  1991 to 154
• in 2001
• By 2033, 57 of population will be female

We need to prepare and support women in what will
be an increasingly challenging environment
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We need to engage men in this endeavour

• Womens issues cannot be the sole province of
• women. We must find a way to engage men in this
• endeavour, and to help them understand that
• womens issues are not just issues for women.
• -- The Status of Women and Girls in Hong Kong
  2006,
• Conclusions

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We need more female leaders

• We must encourage more leadership from women.
• -- The Status of Women and Girls in Hong Kong
  2006,
• Conclusions

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We need more female leaders
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We need to learn more

• We must build on the work discussed in this
  report to
• continually learn about women and our community,
  
• and to ask meaningful and difficult questions
  about
• what is needed.
• -- The Status of Women and Girls in Hong Kong
  2006,
• Conclusions

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We need answers

• How would women affect HK if they had more of a
  voice?
• Why arent women achieving leadership in the
  workplace?
• What are personal / social / structural barriers
  to political participation?
• What role do men play in developing women
  leaders?
• Why arent women leaders doing more to develop
  women and girls?
• What is the role of media?

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We need to better position girls in school

• Most popular subjects for secondary school
  students

• Most popular majors of university students

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We need answers

• What is the interaction between societal norms,
  school culture
• and students choices of fields of study?
• What is the role of parents in students choices
  of fields of study?
• How does curriculum reinforce gender
  stereotypes?
• Who sets curriculum?
• How are gender traits among female students
  changing?
• What are teachers roles in moulding girls
  futures?
• How are some girls overcoming gender stereotypes?

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We need to foster womens economic independence
Women drop out of the work force because of
child care

• Main reasons for exiting full time work are
  childcare (51) and caring for family members
  (7)
• 25 of the women workers who left full time work
  took up
• part time jobs
• 72 of employers did not have gender-related
  employment practices

Women also drop out because work does not pay

• Median monthly incomes of women are about 2/3
  that of males

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We need to foster womens economic independence
Female poverty is increasing

• The number of female CSSA recipients increased by
  nearly 87 from 1997 to 2003
• The total number of female CSSA recipients
  exceeded that of
• males by 10 (2003)
• 80 of single parent CSSA recipients are females
• CSSA has no provision of child care services or
  job training

Women are unable to break out of poverty
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We need answers

• What are the primary, gender-specific reasons
  that women fall
• into poverty?
• What are the best practices for female
  empowerment programs,
• to what extent are they utilized in Hong Kong,
  and why not more?
• Why does society view poverty-stricken
  individuals negatively?
• What is the relationship between poverty /
  drugs/ gang behavior?
• How to break the cycle of poverty?

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Concerns about the Elderly

• Only 3.2 of elderly people were covered in
  private or public
• pension schemes
• HK has one of the highest rates of elderly
  suicide in the world
• Women constitute 55 of the total Social Security
  Assistance (SSA) recipients

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Home-makersthe next generation of elderly poor?

• Second most common group (after the unemployed)
  prone to suicide
• Wife abuse is rising
• Low knowledge of HIV / AIDS more than 90 of HIV
  positive women are infected by a long term
  partner
• Homemakers are disenfranchised in the functional
• constituency system

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Important issues not presented today
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Stereotypes challenge our women both today and
in the future

• Children were profoundly influenced by gender
  stereotypes,
• affecting every choice from school subject to
  career
• Stereotypes were more firmly held by boys than
  by girls
• 17 of the public considered women relatively
  less capable
• of making decisions than men
• 34 considered men more knowledgeable about
  politics than
• women

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Culture is Interpreted

• Ask yourself
• Who is interpreting the culture?
• Who is transmitting the culture?
• What is at stake for them?

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Agents for Social Change
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Research Topics
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Facilitated Breakout Agenda

• 1010 Observations
• 1020 Identify Top Five Priorities
• 1040 Discuss Top Three Priorities
• -Barriers to Change
• -Actionable Next Steps
• 1140 Return to Plenary Session 2

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Public Symposium and Stakeholder Engagement Forum
The Status of Women and Girls In Hong Kong March
4, 2006
Sponsored by
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The Top Five

• Stakeholder Engagement Feedback
• 1. Perceptions of women (education, culture,
  media)
• 2. Research awareness (public education)
• 3. Employment (corporate and Govt policies)
• 4. Leadership capacity building (corporate and
  Govt)
• 5. Institutional resources (Govt and public
  policy)
• 5. Violence (family abuse and personal security)

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Next Steps

• Share feedback with the community
• Focus our efforts
• Continue stakeholder engagement
• Design programs and make grants
• Promote and commission more research
• Collaborate with community partners

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Public Symposium and Stakeholder Engagement Forum
The Status of Women and Girls In Hong Kong March
4, 2006 The full participation of women and
girls in society is not just an admirable goal,
it is vital. In a world facing increasingly
complex problems, no community can afford to
waste the talent of half of its citizens. --
Boutros-Boutros Ghali, Former United Nations
Secretary General
Sponsored by