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E-news Issue 241

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EOC Chairperson calls out gender bias and stereotyping in media

Esteemed feminist writer Simone de Beauvoir famously described women in a 1949 book as the “second sex”, observing that in the patriarchal society of her times, women and everything they were supposed to do seemed always defined in relation to men.

Seven decades on, here in Hong Kong, the misogynistic myth that women must behave in a certain way to please men – sometimes internalised and perpetuated by women themselves – continues to pervade our popular culture. Look no further than the recently aired, locally produced cooking TV show that carries the title – translated from Chinese – “100 Dishes Every Woman Should Master”, spiced up with taglines such as “If you don’t cook well, you won’t marry well” and “Gratify a man’s stomach before capturing his heart”.

From the heterocentric glorification of marriage to the sexist emphasis on cooking skills, the advertising copy has buried the fact that there can be many ways of being a woman, each as dignified and meaningful as the next. Writing in am730 last Wednesday (2 September 2020), Mr Ricky CHU Man-kin, EOC Chairperson thus called out the stereotyping and stigmatising effect of the publicity around the TV series. “Our society today is increasingly defined by diversity and innovation, and indeed it should be so,” he wrote. “I hope for the day when every one of us is freed from the shackles of gender stereotypes, when our children can live in a society that truly embraces difference and values equality.”

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