Power of one

In 1919, a young Chinese woman named Deng Chunlan published an open letter calling for the admission of women to China's universities. She also presented a revolutionary plan to improve the condition of women: 'Liberate the schools. Liberate the workplace. Liberate the governing regime. Liberate ourselves.'

Deng's call for liberation implored society to remove the institutional barriers to women's involvement in public life. In the century that has passed since, many of these barriers of Deng's time have been lowered, if not totally eliminated, in Hong Kong. So, what more is to be done now?

In truth, despite our progress, much remains to be done to achieve true gender parity. Now is not the time to be complacent, for barriers remain for many women, less visible but very real. And in this, more than ever before, women must lead the way towards their own equality.

Thanks in part to the compulsory education policy established since 1978, today's girls have ample opportunity for education. They have taken full advantage of this, and female enrolment in tertiary education has outnumbered male enrolment since the academic year of 1996-97.

And yet, a number of women still struggle for education in Hong Kong. Some ethnic minority girls cannot advance in their studies due to language and cultural barriers. Some young women face difficulties and bullying in school due to their gender or sexual orientation. Many women, especially those in their late 40s onwards, received only primary education. Many of them now work in the cleaning or service industries, and struggle to improve their situation with limited access to retraining opportunities.

In the workplace, we also see mixed progress. On the one hand, women form nearly half of the workforce. On the other, the female labour force participation rate remains low, particularly when compared to other developed economies. The vast majority of the lowest paid and most vulnerable workers are women, whose rights continue to be undermined by the lack of job security and wage protection.

There are also a number of issues that women continue to face at work, including unequal pay, sexual harassment and pregnancy discrimination. And the glass ceiling remains, barring many women from reaching the top. In the Women's Commission 2010 survey, still a quarter of female respondents said they did not want to be too successful at work due to family responsibilities.