*******************************************************
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 2016 with women's groups and various stakeholders in the community.
The Government has established WoC in 2001 as a high-level central mechanism which is tasked to make recommendations to the Government on policies and issues which are of concern to women. WoC has been sparing no effort to enable Hong Kong women to fully realise their due status, rights and opportunities in all aspects of life.
Speaking at the reception, the WoC Chairperson, Mrs Stella Lau, was delighted to note that the Chief Executive has accepted many of the WoC's recommendations in recent years.
"WoC will continue to adopt the three-pronged strategy, namely providing an enabling environment to women, empowering women and public education, to promote the well-being and interests of women in Hong Kong. Also, bureaux and departments have consulted WoC and taken into account WoC's views from time to time on various policies and initiatives," said Mrs Lau.
The 5th term of District Councils was established on January 1, 2016. Each of the 18 District Councils has appointed a district council member as the Gender Focal Point (GFP) to promote gender mainstreaming at the district level, and to facilitate collaboration and communication between WoC and District Councils. During the reception, the Chief Executive, Mr C Y Leung, and his wife, Mrs Regina Leung, presented certificates of appointment to the 18 GFPs of the 5th term of District Councils.
In addition to Mr and Mrs Leung, also officiating at the reception were the Chief Secretary for Administration, Mrs Carrie Lam; Deputy Minister of the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), Mr Yang Jian; the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung; Deputy Commissioner of the Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China in the HKSAR, Madame Tong Xiaoling; the Chairperson of WoC, Mrs Stella Lau; and the Permanent Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Miss Annie Tam.
The officiating guests also launched the TV docu-drama series "Women with Dreams 5", which was jointly produced by WoC and the Radio Television Hong Kong to raise public awareness of various issues of common concern to women. The first episode of the programme will be broadcast on March 19.
Ends/Tuesday, March 8, 2016
Issued at HKT 21:45
NNNN
