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The following is issued on behalf of the Women¡¦s Commission:
The Women¡¦s Commission (WoC) held a conference today (August 26) entitled ¡§Beyond Limits ¡V Women in the 21st Century¡¨ which attracted over 500 people concerned about women¡¦s issues.
The conference is the third of its kind hosted by the WoC since its inception in 2001. It aims to review Hong Kong¡¦s implementation of the United Nations' Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, and provide a platform for participants to discuss issues related to the development and well-being of women as well as exchange views on future directions and strategies to further promote gender equality and the status of women in Hong Kong.
Speaking at the conference, the Chairperson of the WoC, Ms Sophia Kao Ching-chi, said that the status of women in Hong Kong had risen substantially in the past few decades. She quoted a reference indicator, the Gender-related Development Index of the United Nations, as an example. The index examines the gender equality of a place by comparing the average life expectancy, adult literacy, schooling and per capita income of men and women. Hong Kong¡¦s global ranking in the index rose from 33 in 1995 to 22 in 2006, and its index value increased from 0.84 to 0.94 in the same period. Hong Kong came after Japan in the Asian region.
¡§Turning to women¡¦s rights, we may make reference to the Gender Empowerment Measures of the United Nations. The indicator examines the share of parliamentary seats, senior government posts, managerial and professional jobs held by women, and per capita income of women and men. As Hong Kong does not have a parliament, the United Nations report did not show the position of Hong Kong in this aspect. But if we take into account the percentage of female members in the Legislative Council instead, we have worked out Hong Kong¡¦s position in the index - Hong Kong came 19th among the countries/places and took the second rank after Singapore in the Asian region,¡¨ she said.
Ms Kao said that the WoC has all along put forward gender mainstreaming as the main strategy in attaining gender equality. The Government and other sectors are encouraged to take into full consideration the perspective and needs of both sexes in the formulation of policies to ensure that men and women enjoy equal opportunities and get equal access to community resources. In 2002, the Government accepted the WoC¡¦s recommendation to introduce gender mainstreaming into various policy areas on an incremental basis.
She noted that the WoC has devised a Gender Mainstreaming Checklist to assist government officials to evaluate the gender impact of new policies, legislation and programmes. In addition, the WoC has assisted the Government to set up a network of Gender Focal Points and all bureaux and departments have designated a senior officer to take forward gender mainstreaming initiatives. Following the WoC¡¦s recommendation, the Government has applied the checklist to a number of policy/programme areas and more and more government officials have also applied the gender mainstreaming concept in the course of their daily work, taking into account the needs and perspectives of both genders.
¡§Women¡¦s participation in the formulation of policies will also enable the gender perspective to be taken into account at the decision-making level. In 2004, the Government accepted our recommendation of setting a gender benchmark of 25% as an initial working target for appointments of women to Advisory and Statutory Bodies (ASBs). The target was reached by the end of 2005 with the collaboration of various parties. It is noteworthy that women¡¦s participation in ASBs has increased from 22.6% in December 2003 to 27.6% in April this year.
¡§Looking ahead, we will continue to urge the Government to apply gender mainstreaming in more areas, and in the long run target¡¥institutionalising gender mainstreaming in the policy making process,¡¨ she added.
Ms Kao said that we should not rely only on the Government and the WoC to raise women¡¦s status and promote gender equality, and that the WoC will work with all sectors in the community to promote the well-being of women in Hong Kong. It will work more closely with stakeholders such as non-governmental organisations, women¡¦s groups, district councils and academia to build up a bilateral interactive communication network.
Officiating at the opening ceremony of the conference this morning were the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), Mr Donald Tsang; the Director of the Liaison Office of the Central People¡¦s Government in the HKSAR, Mr Peng Qinghua; the Vice-president of the All-China Women¡¦s Federation, Ms Chen Xiurong; the Deputy Director of the Liaison Office of the Central People¡¦s Government in the HKSAR, Ms Guo Li; the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung; the Chairperson of the WoC, Ms Sophia Kao Ching-chi; and the Permanent Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Paul Tang Kwok-wai.
There were two plenary sessions at the conference. In the first session, Ms Chen Xiurong and Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung introduced the Mainland and local experience in promoting gender mainstreaming and women¡¦s participation in decision-making. In the second session, the former Chairperson of the Bureau of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, Mr Olivier Belle, and Ms Sophia Kao Ching-chi shared respectively the United Nations¡¦ and Hong Kong¡¦s experience about mechanisms in promoting the development of women.
Participants took active part in the breakout sessions discussing various topics including women¡¦s participation in decision-making, economic participation, protection of women¡¦s rights, women¡¦s safety, nurturing caring family, education and empowerment, women and health and women in culture, arts and media. Also, a lunch-time talk with the theme ¡§Men¡¦s Role in Promotion of Gender Equality¡¨ was organised. Guest speakers at the lunch-time talk included Mr Bernard Chan, Mr Ronnie Chan and Mr Anthony Wu. A mini-exhibition was also set up alongside the conference to showcase the achievements and outstanding projects related to the development of women by social service agencies and women¡¦s groups.
The conference lasted for two days. A pre-conference activity was held yesterday. A number of women¡¦s groups, non-governmental organisations and service agencies gave lively presentations on different facets of Hong Kong¡¦s women in the 21st century on the themes of nurturing youngsters, women in multi-roles, self enrichment and inclusive community, and more than 700 people attended the activity.
Ends/Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Issued at HKT 15:00
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