*************************************************
The Government was committed to promoting gender equality to eliminate sex discrimination and enable both sexes to enjoy equal opportunities for development, the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, said today (August 26).
Speaking on ¡§Gender Mainstreaming and Women¡¦s Participation in decision-making¡¨ at the Women¡¦s Commission Conference 2009 ¡§Beyond Limits ¡V Women in the 21st Century¡¨, Mr Cheung talked about the Government¡¦s efforts in implementing gender mainstreaming and promoting women¡¦s participation in decision-making, and also outlined the challenges ahead.
He said, ¡§The Government set up the Women's Commission in 2001 to undertake the mission of advising the Government on the formulation of a long-term vision and strategies related to the well-being and development of women.¡¨
Mr Cheung said the implementation of gender mainstreaming was a major initiative of the United Nations to promote gender equality.
Gender mainstreaming refers to the process in which the authorities take into consideration gender perspectives and needs in the drafting, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of legislation, policies and programmes to ensure that both sexes have equal opportunities and equitable access to, and benefit from, community resources, to attain gender equality and harmony in the long run.
Mr Cheung quoted examples to illustrate how the needs and perspectives of both sexes had been taken into account by government bureaux and departments when they applied gender mainstreaming in the course of their work.
He said, ¡§The Leisure and Cultural Services Department has set up family changing rooms at 31 public swimming pools and breastfeeding rooms at 21 leisure and cultural venues. On the other hand, the Police Force has modified the design of bullet-proof vests and procured pistols with hand-grip of different sizes to suit the body shapes of women and men. The Immigration Department, the Customs and Excise Department and the Fire Services Department have also made alterations to their uniforms and equipment accordingly.
¡§The designs of the new Central Government Complex, the Legislative Council Complex and public open space at Tamar have taken into account gender needs. Breastfeeding facilities will be included and non-reflective floor has been selected.¡¨
On women¡¦s participation in policy-making, Mr Cheung said that among the 30 Executive Council Members, seven (23%) were women, including four official members. The ratio of women civil servants and directorate officers has also been increasing.
¡§On political participation, there were 1.67 million women in the register of electors for the Legislative Council election last year, representing 49% of the total number of registered electors. The turnout rate of woman electors was 44.5%. In addition, 11 (18%) of the 60 Legislative Council members are women and the incumbent House Committee Chairperson is a woman. For district bodies, 94 (17.6%) out of 534 members are women,¡¨ he added.
The Government considered that a balanced ratio of men and women members in advisory and statutory bodies should be maintained to ensure that the views and concerns of both genders were reflected, Mr Cheung said. The gender benchmark target of 25% set in 2004 was reached in 2005. Since then, the number of women members in these organisations had increased steadily.
Looking ahead, Mr Cheung said the Government would continue to provide training to civil servants and promote gender mainstreaming within the Government and in the community as well. The Government will also continue to encourage women¡¦s participation in public services, identify and nurture women members to join advisory and statutory bodies.
Mr Cheung said, ¡§We will continue to work closely with the Women¡¦s Commission to promote the status of women in Hong Kong with a three-pronged approach, namely the provision of an enabling environment, upgrading women¡¦s abilities and public education.¡¨
Organised by the Women¡¦s Commission, the conference aimed 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 promote gender equality and the status of women in Hong Kong.
More than 500 academics, representatives of non-governmental organisations, women¡¦s groups, business sector and advisory bodies attended the conference.
Ends/Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Issued at HKT 12:40
NNNN
