Essay by Kelly Yeung

Inequality problems were never not a hot topic. Whether it is sexism, racism or ageism, these problems all influence us in our day to day lives even if we are not the direct victim. Sexism, or gender discrimination, is seemingly the most widespread inequality in Hong Kong. In the workplace, in families, or even anywhere on the streets, discourses and actions having the means to be detrimental to women are not rare to hear and see. Unfortunately, such issues have been on the rise in recent years and are continuing to proclaim an increasing trend. 

In 2018, the "Women and Men in Hong Kong Key Statistics" report revealed that nearly 90% of men earned more than $10,000 per month, but only 66.6% of female workers met the same salary mark. In 2021, the average gender pay gap further widened to 22% though the number of female workers increased by a significant amount. However, the enlarging pay gap shows no sign of ceasing anytime near. It is indeed apparent that the economic imbalance between the two genders is more than substantial. Women suffer from underpayment and the huge wage gap while men put in the same amount of effort to earn tens of thousands more every year. More attention must be paid to the unfairness in salary distribution between genders and discrimination against women in the workplace. 

Aside from the wage gap, women’s position in the workplace is also an unignorable topic. According to a Financial Times article, women make up less than 15% of board positions among the 50 Hang Seng Index constituent companies in Hong Kong. Though this does not manifest the board of directors proportion among all companies in Hong Kong, the fact remains that the gender misproportion of management in general is way more severe than how it seems like, especially when 57.4% of Hong Kong’s working population is female. The misproportion of genders in top level management positions constitutes an imbalance of power between the genders, further contributing to and projecting gender inequality in the society. 

The problem of sexism is so widespread it is now like a common phenomenon that everyone can do nothing but accept. In Hong Kong, the low wage of occupations with the majority being women, like domestic helpers with 98.5% of women among all 400000 of them, directly opens up the inequality gap between the two genders. Gender discrimination is also shown in numerous customs in Hong Kong. The most well-known one is the New Territories Small House Policy, which indicates that male indigineous villagers are allowed to construct a small house within his village once in a lifetime. Though initially this law was meant to protect the rights of villagers whose houses were in poor condition, however, this tradition’s fairness has been doubted since its publication in 1972, and further aroused anger from women living in the New Territories and in the Hong Kong society. However, the government and decision makers never took the advice seriously. Instead, government officials decided to take no notice of this issue and let things flow. As a result, dissatisfaction towards the government and District Council members who consciously ignored the people’s requests grew larger and larger over time while unconvinced residents continued to fight for their rights. 

The appearance of discrimination is derived from twisted thoughts of uneducated people about genders. However, there are a few strategies that could be adopted to raise awareness on gender inequality and close equality gaps. First, equal access to education of genders has to be ensured. Students of all genders have to be taught on gender equality and its significance as well as ways to maintain equality so as to avoid being discriminant against any of the genders. Also, women are to be empowered in the workplace. This could not only adjust the misproportion of genders in top level management positions in the workplace, but could also provide a good chance for women to increase their salaries in the workplace. This could further help the society and citizens develop a sense of equality. 

The world should never view discrimination as an issue to accept or rationalize, especially when hundreds of thousands of women and girls are suffering from it. We and all people should work together to stop gender discrimination in order to create a more peaceful world. Though it is impossible to cease the problem of discrimination immediately, I believe we will achieve this goal if people are willing to change their behaviours and twisted mindsets towards specific groups of people in the society.