Even though women’s status has been raised over the past few decades, some people still question or complain that gender equality has not been actualized in Hong Kong. Write an article giving comments on the local situation of gender equality, how far do you agree that there is serious gender inequality in Hong Kong? Give your article a suitable title.
Do we have gender equality?
Which of these is preferred first, good news or bad news? We might start with the good news. Women’s status has been raised over the past few decades significantly. It is quite encouraging. However, the bad news is that there is still great room for improvement for women’s status. Actualized gender equality is still far from our reach. Serious gender inequality still prevalently exists in Hong Kong.
Gender equality means that we treat males and females equally and give them the same opportunities; same rights in all aspects. Gender inequality means the opposite. Although females may do better than males in some areas, due to the difference in gender, we give the opportunity to the male, but not the more capable female.
Gender inequality appears most in the work place. Women have fewer promotion opportunities. It is because they are often regarded as subordinate. People in society think that women should assist men; be obedient and cooperate. Their achievement will be silently stolen by men. This misconception of females being inferior to males can be reflected by the phenomenon that most of the chief executive officers are males. Women, despite their brilliant abilities, can’t be offered a pivotal role in the work place because of their gender.
Secondly, women are more vulnerable to sexual harassment. Women are often harassed by their male bosses or colleagues. According to news, they don’t dare to report the crime to the court because the law can only promise that the culprits will be prosecuted, but it doesn’t promise the victims their career prospects. If the sexual harassment is publicized, the companies will not hire the “trouble-maker” which means the victims anymore, and this will punish the victims of imposing dire difficulties in finding new jobs for them. Sad but true, society can tolerate the offenders, but not the victims who fight for their rights.
Thirdly, married women are discriminated against. Pregnant women may be protected by existing laws, but this doesn’t stop employers from discriminating against the potentially pregnant or soon-to-be pregnant women. These women will have fewer chances for promotion or employment. It is because employers believe that the married women’s productivity will be restrained by their pregnancy or the duty to take care of their children. Employers just don’t brother to evaluate the abilities of married women; they simply ignore or deny women of the chance of promotion.
Last but not least, woman’s rights are deprived by the authorities. For example, a year ago, a female teacher protested against the school rule which forced her to wear long dress. No matter how hot or cold the weather was, female teachers in that prominent girls school must wear long dresses. Long trousers are not allowed. When the school was asked why it insisted on this school rule, the spokesperson replied without hesitation, “because women should wear dresses” There are still a lot of examples illustrating the fact that unfair rules are restricting the development and rights of women. Without doubts the twisted mindsets of society is still putting our women on the lighter side of the scale.
To conclude, not only do women have fewer promotion opportunities, they also face sexual harassment and unfair restrictions in the work place. Undeniably, gender inequality is slowly diminishing, but there is still a long road to go before we can eventually actualize gender equality.