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Following is the question by the Hon Emily Lau and a reply by the Secretary for Security, Mr Ambrose S K Lee, in the Legislative Council today (November 2):
Question:
It has been reported that during the recruitment exercise for Inspectors of Customs and Excise conducted early this year, the Customs and Excise (C&E) Department adopted the same criteria for both genders in testing the physical fitness of applicants. Some female applicants consider that, given the physiological differences between both genders, the adoption of the same criteria is unfair and may be regarded as sex discrimination. In this regard, will the Executive Authorities inform this Council:
(a) whether they have assessed if the C&E Department's adoption of the same criteria for both genders in testing the physical fitness of applicants has contravened the Sex Discrimination Ordinance; if the assessment result is in the affirmative, how the authorities will make improvements; if the assessment result is in the negative, of the justifications for that;
(b) of the other disciplined services which have also adopted the same criteria for both genders in testing the physical fitness of applicants, and the disciplined services adopting different criteria and their reasons for doing so; and
(c) of the respective up-to-date numbers of male and female applicants who attended the physical fitness tests in the recruitment exercises conducted by the various disciplined services this year and, among these applicants, the respective numbers and percentages of male and female applicants who passed the tests?
Reply:
Madam President,
(a) There is no difference in assignment of duties between male and female Customs officers. Therefore, the Customs and Excise Department has adopted the principle of "the same physical fitness requirement for the same job" in assessing applicants. A set of physical fitness tests based on actual job requirements have been designed with the relevant minimum standards for testing if applicants have the necessary physical fitness to fulfil the job requirements.
Before adopting the existing physical fitness test standards, the Customs and Excise Department had considered the requirements of the Sex Discrimination Ordinance (Cap. 480) and established that the standards in the physical fitness tests represent the minimum requirements for the performance of Customs duties in practice. The establishment of the standards is not based on grounds of sex or differences in physical ability between the two genders.
(b) Currently, apart from the Customs and Excise Department, the Fire Services Department, Immigration Department and Government Flying Service have also adopted the same criteria for testing the physical fitness of applicants of both genders for reasons similar to those of the Customs and Excise Department.
The Correctional Services Department and the Hong Kong Police Force require applicants of both genders to complete the same items during the physical fitness tests but adopt different minimum standards for male and female applicants.
The Prisons Ordinance (Cap. 234) requires prisoners be supervised by correctional services personnel of the same gender. As managing male and female prisoners does not demand the same physical fitness, the Correctional Services Department has prescribed different physical fitness test standards for male and female applicants respectively, based on actual job requirements.
For the Hong Kong Police Force, in the past the nature of duties performed by male police officers has been different from that of female police officers, and the demand for physical fitness on male officers has generally been higher. The Department has therefore adopted different physical fitness test standards in recruiting male and female applicants, having regard to actual job requirements. However, as the differences in the nature of the duties performed by male and female police officers are gradually diminishing, the Department is reviewing the physical fitness requirements for applicants in the light of actual job requirements.
(c) The number and percentages of male and female applicants who attended and passed the physical fitness tests in the recruitment exercises conducted by the various disciplined services in 2005 are set out in the Annex.
Ends/Wednesday, November 2, 2005
Issued at HKT 12:38
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