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The following is issued on behalf of the Women's Commission:
The Women's Commission (WoC) hosted a cocktail reception today (March 8) to celebrate International Women's Day 2014 with women's groups and various stakeholders in the community.
Speaking at the reception, the Chairperson of the WoC, Mrs Stella Lau, said that the Commission agreed with the suggestion in the Steering Committee on Population Policy's consultation document about creating a supportive environment that will allow those willing to work to rejoin the labour market. In this regard, the WoC has made "Women's Employment" the focus of this year's work and will continue its work in empowering women.
"The Commission and the Labour and Welfare Bureau (LWB) are conducting a Time Use Survey in collaboration with the Census and Statistics Department to study the time use pattern of women and men, and to find out the reasons why Hong Kong women leave the labour market and the factors that attract them to take up employment again. The survey results will be useful for the Administration to consider initiatives to facilitate women to join the labour market. The survey results are expected to be announced by the end of this year," Mrs Lau said.
Mrs Lau added that "Women's Employment" had been made the theme of the Commission's Funding Scheme for Women's Development and activities would be organised to help unleash women's potential, enhance their employability and create an environment that enables them to work.
She also said that the WoC and the LWB were developing a dedicated one-stop website which would contain information on employment services, child care services, continuing education and retraining courses provided by the Government and non-governmental organisations. Women who wish to join the labour market could then obtain the relevant information by just a few clicks.
Before officiating at the reception, the Chief Secretary for Administration, Mrs Carrie Lam, toured the WoC's mini-exhibition to mark the 10th anniversary of the Capacity Building Mileage Programme. She also watched a short video for the occasion, in which students shared their joyful experience in joining the Programme.
Mrs Lam and other officiating guests also launched the latest Announcement in the Public Interest on the Capacity Building Mileage Programme at the reception.
Also officiating at the reception were the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung; the Permanent Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Miss Annie Tam; and the Deputy Director-General of the Coordination Department of the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Ms Liao Xun.
Ends/Saturday, March 8, 2014
Issued at HKT 12:16
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