Hong Kong’s young women still facing gender inequality as world marks United Nations’ International Day of the Girl
Hong Kong government says no need to promote UN event as it already prioritises girls’ education through the school curriculum
Hong Kong should work harder to promote the United Nations’ International Day of the Girl because the city’s young women still face gender inequality and unhelpful gender stereotyping from an early age, campaigners have said.
The Hong Kong government has said it does not consider it necessary to actively support the international event on October 11 because it already educates school pupils about girls’ empowerment.
But campaigners insist although Hong Kong’s young women remain comparatively better off than their counterparts in developing Asian countries such as Cambodia, there should be greater awareness of the pressures they endure.
In one of the few attempts to mark the event locally, the Hong Kong branch of child rights organisation Plan International will hold a youth conference in the city with the theme ‘Justice: Because I Am A Girl’. A total of 16 teams of students from seven schools will discuss issues facing girls around the world.
Last week the organisation also held its fourth “donate a pencil” campaign, which has seen Hong Kong schoolchildren send more than 170,000 pencils to girls in mainland China, Ghana, Nepal and northern Thailand.