Gender agenda

The UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women requires the state to take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women in political and public life. In particular, women should be accorded, on equal terms with men, the right to vote in all elections and to participate in the formulation of government policy.

In Hong Kong, women have equal standing with men in legislative and district council elections. Some, however, consider the current functional constituencies of the legislature and the chief executive election committee to be structurally biased against women, who are under-represented in corporate voting in 'business' sectors. In the civil service, women now constitute 54.2 per cent of the elite Administrative Service. Thirty per cent of directorate-level officials are women. For advisory and statutory bodies, the government sets a minimum benchmark of 25 per cent for either sex.

Though there is no constitutional or overt institutional discrimination against women in political life, some might still fault it for being 'gender blind'. Indeed, the dominant culture in Hong Kong is one of meritocracy; the 'best' person will be appointed, promoted or elected to the job, irrespective of gender. At a women's political participation summit held at the Baptist University on April 19, many challenged the appearances and statistics.

It is often argued that equality in right is not the same as equality in opportunity. Implicit and hidden discrimination exist, which hinder women from active participation in political and public life. Situational factors - like the conflict with family obligations, and access to education and employment - as well as gender-role stereotypes and cultural tradition, are commonly cited barriers.

It all boils down to changing society's attitudes. Somewhat ironically, though, despite the talk about a lack of female participation in politics, many women activists seem more interested in the struggle against discrimination and suppression as a social movement than taking part in formal politics such as elections and joining political parties.

One has to be clear what 'women's politics' means. If it is equated to proportional representation, simply setting a quota system of some kind would seem a sufficient answer.