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.
Gender inequality still persists
Gender equality refers to a social order in which women and men are treated equally. In Hong Kong, women and men have equal rights in receiving education, voting and standing for election. As regards the ownership rights, the law grants women and men above the age of 18 equal access to land and other properties. It seems that gender equality has been actualized in the city. Yet, is gender equality a reality in Hong Kong? Indeed, gender inequality still persists in some aspects in Hong Kong.
The Chinese traditional notion “men are breadwinners and women are housekeepers” is still very common in Hong Kong. Many people think that women’s job is to do household work and take care of the family. According to the result of a recent survey conducted by the Women’s Commission, over half of the respondents said that women should focus more on family than work. Moreover, an overwhelming number of people deem that women should give up their careers and stay at home to take care of family members, raise their children and do housework. Worse still, many men suppose that women are born to bear and raise children. This way of thinking is really discriminatory. Parenting is not a gender-specific role. Men, too, have to learn to become fathers.
Besides, it is generally believed that women’s working ability is lower than men’s. Based on the latest statistic released by the census department, men hold 70 per cent of the management and administration positions in Hong Kong. In addition, as many employers think that women’s working performance is inferior to men’s, they are unwilling to pay their female employees the same wage as for the male employees. In fact, the statistics also shows that the median monthly earnings of females are in general lower than those of their male counterparts across all age groups.
Furthermore, married women tend to be treated less favourably in the workplace. The survey found that 70 per cent employers still declined to hire people who are unable to work overtime because of the need to look after family members.
Hong Kong may boast of being a modern world city with liberal and open views, but this is quite inconsistent when it comes to women’s rights. The bias was deeply rooted. Although the problem of gender inequality is not very serious in Hong Kong, the situation should not be watched with folded arms. The outdated attitudes about women should be abandoned. No more discrimination against women should be tolerated.