Press Releases
Women's Commission to hold public forum on future direction of work
The following is issued on behalf of the Women's Commission:
The Women's Commission met on May 8 to discuss the health care reform proposals. It also reviewed services for women provided by the Social Welfare Department and Home Affairs Department.
On the health care reform proposals, the Commission was in support of strengthening the preventive care system in Hong Kong. Members noted that the health needs of women and men might be different, and that women, being the carer in the family, would need support in playing that role. The Commission recommended that the Government should pay particular attention to women's perspectives and needs in the reform of the health care system.
The SWD services reviewed by the Commission included those related to single parents, new arrivals, childcare, domestic violence, sexual violence, family education and carers' support services as their clients are mainly women or they affect women as carer of the family.
"We support the setting up of a multi-purpose family crisis support centre to help prevent or mitigate incidents of domestic violence," Mrs Sophie Leung, Chairperson of the Women's Commission, said. "The Centre would help women and their families to resolve their problems in a positive way. It would also bridge a gap in existing services.
"The Government should also give positive consideration to the setting up of a fourth refuge centre for women," Mrs Leung added, noting that the number of battered wives had been increasing.
The Commission also felt that welfare services should be strengthened with suitable increase of manpower to assist women and family members to cope with adversity and regain self-reliance, and a more out-reaching approach should be adopted by Government.
The Women's Commission was briefed on the initiatives taken by the Home Affairs Department (HAD) to promote information technology usage (IT) in the community, especially among grassroots and new arrival women. The Commission noted the efforts of HAD in coordinating services to facilitate the early integration of new arrivals.
Prior to the meeting, the Women's Commission held a full-day workshop on April 7 to discuss its mission and priority areas of work.
"We have unanimously agreed that our 'Mission' is: 'To enable women in Hong Kong to fully realise their due status, rights and opportunities in all aspects of life'," said Mrs Sophie Leung. "We have identified three priority areas of action for the Commission, namely, gender-mainstreaming, public education and empowerment of women.
"By gender mainstreaming, we mean that policy making and legislation should be gender sensitive, and that women's perspective should be taken into consideration as appropriate. The current thinking of the Commission is to develop a checklist or list of questions for bureaux and departments to answer when policies are being drawn up or revised. This would help ensure that women's interests and concerns are duly considered. A Task Force will soon be set up to work further on this.
"On public education, a series of publicity activities will be organised to enhance public awareness of gender-related issues," Mrs Leung continued. "Our ultimate goal is to eliminate gender prejudices and stereotyping which restrict the full realisation of women's potential."
As regards empowerment of women, Mrs Leung said, "The Commission wishes to look into ways to better equip women to meet various challenges in life. We also intend to consider ways to create a more congenial societal environment for women to develop themselves."
The Women's Commission will organise an Open Forum on July 21 at the Hong Kong Science Museum to discuss its future direction of work with women's groups and all interested parties. Members of the public are welcome to attend. More details will be announced nearer the time.
End/Thursday, May 10, 2001
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