Chow Tai Fook foundation plans to support more underprivileged women in Hong Kong as recession bites
- The number of women receiving social welfare benefits stood at 711,130 at the end of 2019, almost a tenth of Hong Kong population
- Foundation seeks to do more to provide support services and improve their living conditions
The Chow Tai Fook Charity Foundation donates about HK$100 million annually on services towards such causes in the city and mainland China, as a way of giving back to society, chairman Peter Cheng Kar-shing said. The family built its fortunes from the jewellery business founded by its late patriarch Cheng Yu-tung, who passed away at 91 in 2016.
“Women at grass roots level who want to enter the labour market have to overcome obstacles such as childcare and lack of employment information,” Cheng said in an interview. “We can provide support services, allowing them to go back into the job market so that they do not need to take the government’s social security help.”
Women made up 54 per cent of Hong Kong’s 7.5 million population at the end of 2019. While the number of unemployed women fell to 45,800 from 59,000 in 2016, the trend may be at risk of slippage as the city’s economy contracted for a fourth straight quarter through June this year.
The foundation’s first initiative for the group was in 2018, when it launched the “Heart Linkage” family support fund in Sham Shui Po with a number of non-profit organisations.