Many women in Hong Kong are unaware it is a crime for husbands to rape their wives, even though the law against this has been in effect for 16 months, according to a law professor and women's rights advocates.
They are calling on the government to launch a public education campaign to promote the law and help improve gender equality.
Chan Yu, director of the Hong Kong Federation of Women's Centres, said she was aware that there had not been a single prosecution since the law was passed in July last year.
Based on a survey of 114 women carried out by the centre in August, 40 per cent of women were not aware of the law, although 68 per cent agreed that the law could further protect women's rights.
'We are disappointed that the government seems to be reluctant to give the public a better understanding of the law,' Ms Chan said.
'We are not encouraging women to use the law to bring actions against their husbands. But the law can educate people to respect women's rights. However, the law will become useless if the government continues to hide it from the public,' she said.