Women and Equal Opportunity: The Hong Kong Situation

For Chinese women to progress, attention must be paid to alleviating the burden of the dual role of parenting and work responsibilities. The current situation, with the working woman having to accept that cultural values still make child care her responsibility, means that Hong Kong businesses can still use women to fill their basic labour requirements — a cheap, readily available labour force content to stay in factory situations. Comprehensive equal pay legislation is still required and amendment to the tax laws so that married women are not considered as appendages to their husbands. The China‐British agreement for the future of Hong Kong after the 1997 territory lease expiry should open doors for women politically, since a major goal for the intervening years is preparation for administration by local Chinese.