We hope everyone had a joyful Lunar New Year holiday with family and friends. As we enter the Year of the Snake and in advance of the upcoming Budget Address, we are sharing our top three policy priorities for the year ahead alongside some of our recommendations on how we can tackle these issues together.
Boosting women’s workforce participation
TWF has long identified the need to address female workforce attrition rates and to support their return to work. To do so, we need:
- Encouragement, collaboration and incentivisation for companies to adopt flex-work or part time arrangements and recruit non-traditional pools of talent such as low-income homemakers and mature age women.
- Review of childcare services, particularly home-based services, with a view for affordability alongside consistent, quality and safety standards in line with best practice in economies such as Sweden and Iceland.
- Greater collaboration between NGOs, social enterprises, businesses and government to provide supportive returnship programmes for individuals who are trying to re-enter the workforce, particularly among women in vulnerable communities who may lack confidence after an extended break from the workforce.
Strengthening eldercare and caregiver support
Challenges associated with Hong Kong’s ageing population are well documented, and without innovative and timely interventions, will be a significant financial burden to families, employers and society-at-large. Recommendations to address this include:
- Businesses and government can collaborate to create an income insurance scheme for caregivers, allowing them to maintain income protection while reducing hours or taking breaks for caregiving, thereby ensuring continued MPF contributions and easing financial pressures.
- Caregiver support should be integrated into quality standards for home care services with more resourcing for training for caregivers, including family, volunteers, and domestic helpers.
- Subsidies for home care services provided by NGOs and direct care services utilised by caregivers and those in need of elder care, drawing on best practice from economies such as Norway and Sweden and well as subsidies for entrepreneurs or business owners looking to establish, improve and/or expand their eldercare service provisions.
Improved protections against sexual violence
More than 1 in 3 women in Hong Kong have experienced sexual violence and still face hurdles in seeking support. To tackle this, we can consider:
- Updates to the criminal law and sexual discrimination ordinance that demonstrate the seriousness with which Hong Kong seeks to build inclusive, safe city for all.
- The establishment of an emergency fund to help victim-survivors of domestic violence – the majority of whom are women – and their dependents temporarily cover living expenses and to help victim-survivors leave their perpetrators.
- Continued efforts to tackle stigma and taboos via cross sector public campaigns over the long term.
These areas are underscored by a need for territory-wide gender research to inform targeted support and interventions on these and other critical issues. We need ramped up efforts to tackle entrenched gender stereotypes, a strengthening of measures to meet the needs of women in poverty, break the stigma and close the gaps on women’s health, as well as greater efforts to address additional challenges and disadvantages specific groups of women and girls are facing, including migrant domestic workers and ethnically diverse populations, among others.
To make material progress, we need commitment and close collaboration from all sectors. But the results will be worth it - gender equality is a key catalyst in driving Hong Kong’s growth and competitiveness, and we all benefit from cultivating an inclusive and diverse society.