Hong Kong can ill-afford to neglect the potential of half the population
- In a world where competitiveness and talent are key to the city’s economic prosperity and international standing, boards, shareholders and consumers should demand more evidence that companies are exploiting the full potential of gender parity
News of gender discrimination abounds in recent news archives – locally, regionally and globally. There is nothing to be found about a single place that does not suffer it in some way – in pay, career progress, even access to Covid-19 vaccination in one instance. Hong Kong is no exception to the gender pay gap, as we were reminded by the latest household survey by the Census and Statistics Department from April to June.
If anything sets the city apart, it is that women in managerial positions have actually been going backwards in remuneration compared with men. They were earning on average HK$9,800 (US$1,250) a month less, a 19.6 per cent gap compared with 15.8 per cent last year and 6.98 per cent five years ago. Disparity was reflected among professionals, in clerical jobs and in young and old age groups. Yet, overall, it actually narrowed from 22.5 per cent in 2018 to 13 per cent this year, so these figures need more elaboration.
Negative economic factors tend to impact more on women employees, examples being the anti-government social unrest in 2019 and the Covid-19 pandemic, according to Alex Chow Yee-ping, managing director of a human resources consultant. “Lay-offs target women disproportionately due to gender discrimination,” he said. “For senior positions especially, some employers think it is better to have men.” If that is the experience of someone who helps companies fill senior positions, women still have a mountain to climb.
Gender equality at work: how do Hong Kong, Singapore and others compare?
It is more common in self-owned businesses without institutional or board oversight, according to Elaine Cheung, a senior human resources manager at a statutory body. “Favouritism definitely exists in the workplace,” she said. Self-owned businesses had more leeway in making salary decisions. Other experts said some women contributed to the disparity by putting family ahead of promotion entailing more responsibility in return for higher pay.
That said, in a world where competitiveness and talent are key to Hong Kong’s economic prosperity and international standing, the city can ill-afford to neglect the potential of half the population. Chinese University economics professor Terence Chong Tai-leung says attributes they bring to senior positions include strong communication and language skills.
Meanwhile, younger women accounted for 53.6 per cent of the total undergraduate enrolment in the city’s publicly funded universities in the last academic year. So, ultimately, the gender pay gap could be self-correcting to a degree as this generation makes its way up the career ladder. But there is still a need for boards, shareholders and consumers to demand more evidence that companies exploit the full potential of gender parity.
