'I still think that having siblings is the best for children, but we decided against it,' said Joyce Ho Mei-yee, the mother of a five-year-old daughter.
Ho is also a full-time manager for the Hong Kong Federation of Women's Centres, which provides counselling and support for women.
Raising a child is hard work wherever you are, but despite having a full-time job she finds Hong Kong's sky-high cost of living and lack of child-raising support are daunting.
'We struggled for the longest time to decide whether we should [have another child], but the truth is we cannot really afford it - both in terms of time and money,' she said.
Ho, now 36, was married at 28, which among her peers is considered early. She gave birth to her daughter, Cherry Ma Cheuk-yin, in 2007. At the time she and her husband wanted a second child, but have not done so after seeing how the first took up their time and finances.
In Hong Kong, she said, it was becoming increasingly difficult to raise a child, given the long hours that had to be worked. Most often, this was necessary just to earn enough to feed the family. But more importantly, Ho feared that she would not be able to be a good mother.
Parenthood is about being able to provide for one's children, but also to be able to support them emotionally, she said. Having one child and a full-time job she cannot quit meant that all her free time was spoken for.
