Are Hong Kong and Beijing making progress in eliminating discrimination against women? Both governments' records will be under scrutiny in New York in August, at hearings of the United Nations committee that oversees the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (Cedaw).
Several human rights groups - including the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) - discussed Hong Kong's upcoming Cedaw report at the Legislative Council's home affairs panel on June 9.
The UN's Cedaw committee has demanded action in the area of women's employment, among other issues, in Hong Kong. In February, it asked the government to provide the results of a 2001 government-funded study on equal pay for work of equal value in both public and private sectors. While there is no equal-pay legislation in Hong Kong, the government is bound by a number of international human-rights agreements to implement that principle. But instead of making it mandatory through legislation, the administration decided to take a persuasive approach.
In January 2001, the EOC was given $2 million to study the principle. A taskforce was set up to oversee the consultancy study, then it was given a draft report early in 2003. But its members could not reach a consensus, and that state of gridlock has dragged on ever since.
At the same time, there were three changes of chairmen at the EOC in less than two years. The capable and energetic Anna Wu Hung-yuk was forced out in mid-2003. She was followed by retired Court of Appeal judge Michael Wong Kin-chow, who served briefly before resigning in disgrace.
Mr Wong was succeeded by Patricia Chu Yeung Pak-yu, a retired senior civil servant. She lasted for about a year and was succeeded by the privacy commissioner, Raymond Tang Yee-bong, who accepted the job on condition that he could serve a five-year term.