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Women in anti-discrimination fight

Sophie Benge

DISCRIMINATION which denied women child care assistance, the right to inherit and adequate defence from abusive husbands were some of the problems confronting women in the territory, a forum was told yesterday.

To combat the situation there was a call for the establishment of a multi-purpose commission to channel women's complaints so action could be taken.

Organised by the Coalition of Women's Organisation, some women wept as they told the forum their stories of single parenthood, wife abuse, politics and discrimination in the workplace.

Jessie Chu set up the Concern Group on Single Parents following her desperate situation which forced her to leave her children, aged seven and 11, alone in her apartment while she went out to work.

Having been denied child care help when her husband died, she found she needed to work to supplement her state benefit which was not sufficient to support her family. At the time, three years ago, Mrs Chu had to pay $1,800 a month for after-school care when her total income was only $1,200.

She said the discrimination was highlighted when her neighbour found himself as a single parent.

''He got full-time home help for his three kids, so he could work as a cook in a restaurant. Then his children were taken to a children's home in the New Territories, which he wanted. Why couldn't I have child care help? Why couldn't I officially go out to work?'' she said.

Inheritance laws in the New Territories may leave Cheng Lai-sheung homeless because her adopted brother was left all the property owned by her late father. Ms Cheng's four sisters are married but because she has complained about the unfair discrimination, her adopted brother is threatening to evict her from her family home.

''I have gone to so many places to complain about my situation but they are not able to help. Now I have applied for legal aid to seek help. I am very worried about what will happen to me,'' she said.

Fanny Cheung, of Hong Kong's Federation of Women's Centres, one of 14 women's organisations which have formed a coalition to lobby Legco for a body to deal with women's concerns, said: ''There should be a multi-purpose commission to channel complaints by women. The [recent] Green Paper only highlights statistics. It does not get to the core of the problem.

''When the Government is asked about the status of women in Hong Kong, they have no information because they don't have a central body. They come to people like me who work at the universities. This is dreadful.''

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