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Hong Kong is a services and knowledge-based economy with women playing a key part in the city's progress, and the HKSAR Government is fully committed to empowering women in the workforce, the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, said in San Francisco on September 16 (San Francisco time).
Mr Cheung was addressing a High Level Policy Dialogue (HLPD) on fostering women's economic empowerment among the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) economies, which was the highlight of the APEC Women and the Economy Summit (WES). Chaired by the Secretary of State of the United States of America, Mrs Hillary Clinton, and attended by senior Secretaries and Ministers of APEC economies, the Dialogue focused on increasing women's access to capital and markets, and building women's capacity and leadership.
"In promoting the interests and well-being of women in the economy, we have adopted a three-pronged approach – what we call the three 'E's' strategy. In a nutshell, this includes, Educating, Enabling and Empowering women to play a full role in the economy," Mr Cheung said.
Being consecutively ranked the world's freest economy by both the US-based Heritage Foundation and the Fraser Institute in Canada, Hong Kong thrives on open markets and free flows of capital, information, ideas and talent. "We will continue to build on these essential qualities to make Hong Kong tick," he said.
He added that the Equal Opportunities Commission was established in 1996 and the Women's Commission was established in 2001, the latter plays a high-level strategic role in advising the Government on policies, legislation and services affecting women.
Making reference to the successful introduction of the statutory minimum wage legislation in Hong Kong in May this year, Mr Cheung pointed out that more women have joined the labour market and found jobs since May, compared to last year. "In recent months, there has been a 4.6 per cent increase in the female labour force and a 5.5 per cent increase in total employment for women. The increases were notably higher than those recorded for male workers, suggesting that women have benefited more than men from the new legislation," he said.
Speaking on capacity building, Mr Cheung said that a wide range of publicly funded vocational training, retraining and continuing education opportunities were in place to promote the overall quality of Hong Kong's workforce. Such training programmes are market-oriented and are provided to men and women alike, he noted.
Turning to women's leadership, Mr Cheung pointed out that 35 per cent of senior management positions in Hong Kong's private businesses are held by women, while female students have taken up 53.7 per cent of the total enrolment of all tertiary education programmes funded by the Government.
In conclusion, Mr Cheung said the government would continue to foster a level playing field for business in Hong Kong, and that included a level playing field for women's participation in the economy.
Also attending the HLPD were the Hong Kong Commissioner for Economic and Trade Affairs, USA, Mr Donald Tong, and member of the Women's Commission, Ms Teresa Au.
Other woman leaders participating in the Summit included Executive Council Member, Ms Marjorie Yang; the Dean of Science, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Professor Nancy Ip; Chief Executive Officer of the Women's Foundation, Ms Su-Mei Thompson; Research Associate of the Women's Foundation, Ms Lisa Moore; Chief Executive Officer of RFID System and Supplies Limited, Ms Angela Wong; and Director, Product Management, Greater China AMD, Ms Irene Hwang. Many of them were speakers in various sessions of the Summit, while Ms Yang and Professor Ip were also among 42 Leading Women Innovators from 21 APEC economies honoured at a WES reception on Thursday night.
The WES concluded with the passing of the San Francisco Declaration for APEC economies to take concrete actions to realise the full potential of women in 2011 and beyond.
Mr Cheung headed back to Hong Kong right after attending the WES's closing event today. He will arrive on Sunday.
Ends/Saturday, September 17, 2011
Issued at HKT 11:24
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