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平等機會委員會主席林美秀女士致辭(只備英文版)

29/10/2024

Roden (Roden Tong, President, The Law Society of Hong Kong),

Melissa (Melissa Pang, Chairperson, Diversity and Inclusion Committee, The Law Society of Hong Kong)

Distinguished guests and friends,

Good evening. I am honoured to be invited to speak at the ‘Embrace a Diverse Community Forum’ on the issue of gender equality and women leadership in the workplace. As we all know, the legal community plays a critical role in spearheading societal change. I am confident that the discussions at tonight’s forum will serve as a strong foundation for future action to bring about positive change in society.

The issue of gender equality and female leadership in the workplace has gained prominence in recent years. Globally, the #MeToo movement has triggered critical conversations about gender and power. The emergence of the Environmental, Social and Governance or ESG framework in the corporate world has also brought the issue of gender diversity to the top of the agenda. Closer to home, we have seen positive changes in the area of gender equality as well. For example, the Hong Kong Exchange and Clearing’s push to end single-gender boards by the end of this year has led to notable progress, with the number of all-male boards decreasing by 50% in just 2 years.

Yet, despite these encouraging developments, differences between women and men in the labour market persist.

Traditional ideas about gender roles remain ingrained in our society, where women are still expected to shoulder household and care responsibilities. As a result, many women give up their careers after marrying and having children. In terms of pay, there is also a clear gender disparity, with the median monthly income for women being around 19% lower than that of men in 2023. In the financial sector, the gender pay gap is even more significant, with women earning on average 35% less than their male counterparts.

Over the past few years, although the leadership of businesses and organisations in Hong Kong has steadily become more gender diverse, we still lag behind other jurisdictions in the Asia-Pacific region in this area. In 2023, women accounted for only 19% of board seats in Hong Kong-listed firms, notably lower than 25% in Singapore and 40% in Australia.

At the EOC, the complaints we received under the Sex Discrimination Ordinance, or SDO, made up close to 40% (308/809) of all the cases we received in the first nine months of 2024. Most of these cases, over 75% (235), were related to the field of employment. And cases related to sexual harassment (177) and pregnancy discrimination (66) were the most common types of complaints we received under the SDO (308) in this period.

There is no doubt that hurdles and obstacles remain to eradicate gender equality. However, these should give us all even more motivation to strengthen our efforts to eliminate barriers that prevent women from realising their potential at work.

Let me highlight three areas of work the EOC will focus on to advance gender equality in the coming years.

Firstly, we will step up our efforts to help more employers, especially small and medium-enterprises (SMEs), tackle sexual harassment. Creating a safe and respectful work environment with zero-tolerance for sexual harassment is not just beneficial for women, but it can also enhance employee retention, boost staff morale, and ultimately enhance the performance of the whole organisation. Last year, we hosted a forum on sexual harassment prevention measures for SMEs. In addition, our Anti-Sexual Harassment Unit has been assisting employers to devise strategies to foster safe and respectful workplaces, and we have also produced guidelines to help companies formulate appropriate policies. We will continue to work with employers across different sectors to foster workplaces free of sexual harassment. 

Secondly, we hope to see more employers adopt family-friendly employment policies or FFEPs. While the benefits of these measures, such as work-from-home arrangements and flexible work schedules, have become more widely recognised after the COVID-19 pandemic, the adoption of FFEPs remains limited in Hong Kong. According to a study we funded last year, over 85% of the surveyed employees said FFEPs are uncommon in the workplace.  In light of this, we are highly supportive of the Government’s recently announced plan to provide childcare leave for civil servants with children below three years-old, as the move could encourage more employers in both public and private sectors to follow suit. Actually the EOC is already working on the arrangements for implementing this new policy. And we will continue to advocate and educate employers on the benefits of FFEPs, such that both female and male workers with care responsibilities can better balance their work and family life.

The third area of work I want to highlight is the support for breastfeeding women. Since 2021, women in Hong Kong are protected from breastfeeding discrimination and harassment, as a result of legislative amendments proposed by the EOC to the Government. To publicise and educate employers, service and facility providers, as well as the general public about the law, the EOC has launched extensive campaign. We have also developed detailed guidelines that provide good practice tips. Yet, as our recent study shows, lactation and breastfeeding rooms are often inadequate in older buildings and premises, while breastfeeding women at work also encounter pressure from supervisors and colleagues, a lack of understanding and empathy for the needs of breastfeeding women, as well as being refused, verbally harassed, or receiving unfriendly looks when breastfeeding or expressing milk in public places. We have made proposals to the Government on ways to improve the situation and we will continue to work with relevant authorities to enhance support for mothers and women with caregiving responsibilities.

Alongside changes in these areas, I believe that we must also push for a more fundamental shift in the wider culture to challenge the gender stereotypes and biases that continue to influence pay as well as hiring and promotion decisions. For this to happen, we hope more employers that embrace gender equality will share their success stories and help their peers to empower their female employees. And as members of the legal community, we all have a role to play. By educating the community about the law and helping employers adopt best practices, we can make a real difference.

Thank you once again for inviting me here today. I wish the Forum a great success.

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