Catherine W. Ng

Women and men in hotel management in Hong Kong: perceptions of gender and career development issues

Abstract This study aims to examine whether Hong Kongs female and male managers perceive gender and career development issues differently than their Western counterparts. The study found that female hotel managers in Hong Kong, like their Western counterparts, are aware of the difficulties women face in a male-dominated environment. However, unlike Western women managers, they tend to downplay the difficulties, and to favour personal, against institutional, strategies to overcome them. The study also found that while both women and men prefer male supervisors, mens preference is more definitive. Male managers also prefer supervising male subordinates. The findings suggest that there is room for Hong Kongs hotel industry to review the effect of structural barriers on womens career development.

Women-friendly HRM and organizational commitment : A study among women and men of organizations in Hong Kong

This study found that women-friendly policies are not prevalent in organizations in Hong Kong. To ascertain if organizations that are more women-friendly have more committed employees, working men and women in the territory were surveyed. Controlling for ‘national origin of organization’, the research results indicate that family- and work-related factors impact on both womens and mens organizational commitment. But women-friendly policies have a positive impact only on women—and only on their affective commitment, not on continuance commitment. The finding indicates that employees who are more likely to benefit directly from progressive policies that symbolize concern for them would become psychologically more attached to their organizations than those who perceive little value in the policies for their work lives.

Work-family conflict and coping strategies adopted by female married professionals in Hong Kong

This study examined the kinds of work‐family conflict experienced by female married professionals with children in Hong Kong and the coping strategies they had adopted. Data were obtained through 50 in‐depth interviews. The results revealed the general ineffectiveness of coping strategies being used by married women professionals. The percentage of women who attempted to use positive coping strategies designed around job changes was low, possibly due to their reluctance in negotiating for family‐friendly organizational policies. It appears that companies in Hong Kong extend little support to working mothers in managing the work‐family interface. Implications of the findings for women’s career progressions are also discussed in this paper.

The Effect of Career Ambition and Satisfaction on Attitudes Towards Equal Opportunities and Family‐friendly Policies For Women

This study aims to uncover some of the reasons for differences in attitudes towards family‐friendly and equal opportunities (EO) policies for women between senior and junior staff and between male and female staff. This in‐depth case study of a multi‐national corporation in Hong Kong that included a survey questionnaire, interviews and participant observation suggests four categories of female employees according to their approach to EO: advocators, supporters, outsiders and rejecters. The approach adopted was dependent on the womans level of empathy towards the situation of working women and the extent of her career ambition. Four categories of male employees can also be classified depending on their level of empathy towards womens situation (similar to womens case) and their extent of career satisfaction (in contrast to womens career ambition), namely, antagonists, outsiders, fence‐sitters and sympathizers. Women at higher levels were less supportive of EO than women at lower levels. No such clear relationship between organizational level and attitudes towards EO was observed among men. In Hong Kong, female managers had little expectation that their organization would be family‐friendly and women workers who consciously chose to balance work and family accepted that it meant fewer promotional chances. No such self‐adjusted depressed ambition was observed among men.

The concept of state feminism and the case for Hong Kong

Abstract Comparative studies of anti-sex-discrimination law enforcement agencies and state feminism mechanisms tend to focus on western societies, with little mention of eases in Asia, Hong Kong is one of the few Asian regions that have anti-discrimination laws and a statutory Equal Opportunities Commission. This paper is an examination of Hong Kongs conditions for and level of state feminism. Through this case study, we hope to understand the extent to which western models of state feminism can be applied in Asian contexts. Our analyses indicate that while Hong Kong has half the antecedent conditions for an influential and enabling state feminist office, it is a low feminist state. In Hong Kong, where democracy is in its infancy, there are three particular elements that pose a major challenge to feminist agendas; namely, the governing elite, the business sector and the legislature. The three mutually reinforce each other in sustaining patriarchal patterns.

What Do Women Want? Giving University Women in Hong Kong a Voice

Not unlike their sisters all over the world (United Nations, 1991), Hong Kong women are underrepresented in public administration and political offices. The proportion of female members in the Executive Council, which is comparable to the ‘Cabinet’ in the West in status but not in nature, was 25 percent as of 2 January 1993 (Lui, 1995: 138). In the 1991 elections, 10 percent, 16 percent, 8 percent, and 11 percent of the candidates running for seats in, respectively, the District Boards, the Urban Council, the Regional Council, and the Legislative Council were female (Lui, 1995: 145). In 1992, the percentage of female office bearers 1 in four major political parties – the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong (DAB), the Liberal Democratic Federation of Hong Kong (LDF), Meeting Point, and the United Democrats of Hong Kong – were correspondingly 10.3 percent, 12.1 percent, 11 percent, and 8.5 percent (Lui, 1995: 149). There is also significant sex segregation, both horizontally by occupation and vertically by level of position in the labor market, and a consequent differential in earnings between the sexes. Statistics for 1996 show that marriage and pregnancy/family start-up remained two of the major factors negatively affecting the employment of women. The labor force participation rates (LFPR) for women were 68 percent for never married versus 46 percent for married, and the LFPR was lowest (22.3 percent) for the age group 15–19, peaked (75.4 percent) at ages 20–24, and continuously fell after 25 years of age. This was in complete contrast to men, for whom marriage was positively related to LFPR (73 percent for never married versus 81 percent for married), which rose from 29 percent for the 15–19 age group to 96.7 percent for the ages of 35–44, and decreased only slightly to 93.7 percent for ages 45–54 (Hong Kong Government, 1996: 78, 85). The proportion of women ‘managers and administrators’ was 23.4 percent in 1996, and that of female ‘craft and related workers’ 12.1 percent (Hong Kong Government, 1996: 93). The median monthly income from main employment of males was 25 percent higher than that of females in 1996 (Hong Kong Government, 1996: 80). Despite the fact that women are underrepresented in the public sphere and in

Supposed beneficiaries’ opinions of anti‐discrimination legislation in Hong Kong – Women’s and the physically handicapped’s viewpoint

Conducts two studies, one among working women and one among the employed physically handicapped, to assess their feelings about the recent introduction of equal opportunity legislation in Hong Kong. Provides some background statistics on Hong Kong and outlines the development of anti‐discrimination legislation. Asks 78 women and 10 physically handicapped people if they thought discrimination was serious in Hong Kong and if the anti‐discrimination legislation and the Equal Opportunities Commission were effective in combating discrimination. Describes the methodology used and discusses the results. Reveals that both groups surveyed were ambivalent about discrimination, stating that legislation enforces behavioural changes but that they are only skin deep. Points out also that it is difficult to quantify discriminatory practices. Notes similarities between east and west, particularly with research suggesting that the only way forward in promoting equality is to reduce status distinctions for everyone and to make organizations much more democratic.

Single Working Women and Motherhood

Abstract Hong Kong has one of the lowest fertility rates in the world and the number of single women continues to increase. We examined this phenomenon in the context of state moral projects and prevailing workplace culture to account for the decline. We propose that the contradictions in the behavior of Hong Kong women can be explained by theoretical discussions on formal legal rights at one end, and at the other, promotions of traditional family core values. We analyzed narratives of three single middle-class professional women with children to gain insight into how they negotiated and crafted their alternative, unconventional work-family scripts. We found that while they held a mix of traditional and modern notions and successfully coped with their scripts, there was disinterest in seeing themselves as part of an evolving community that is an alternative to the conventional norm of the heterosexual couple.

Do women and men communicate differently at work? An empirical study in Hong Kong

Some studies, mainly in the West, have suggested that women are more encouraging in their communication styles than men, especially when the conversation is about a personal matter versus when it is business‐related. It has also been contended that same‐sex communication between women is more supportive than both mixed‐sex communication and same‐sex communication between men. However, this research, conducted in Hong Kong among full‐ and part‐time tertiary students, shows that the above contentions are perhaps culture dependent, and that careful re‐examination of gender‐based differences is warranted, particularly when one is considering communication styles at work.

State, Market and Civil Society in Hong Kong: A Study of Multi-media Advertising on Buses

Multi-media advertising on buses in Hong Kong started in late 2000 This article analyses the on-going tension and struggle involving an internet-based anti-bus television civic group, bus companies, and the Transport Department. The case study sheds light on the power relations between the state and the market and between the state and civil society. The Transport Department’s close relationship with bus companies has probably hampered its regulatory role. Its inability to engage civic groups in charting policy directions weakens the latter’s “participation” role in interacting with the government and its “lobbying” role in checking capitalist activities within the business sector. The case study also reveals an interesting civic movement conducted mostly in cyberspace among an educated and computer-literate group of middle-class citizens in Hong Kong.