ISGN > Publications > WOMEN and GENDER

Hong Kong Women Workers under Globalization
by Chan Po-ying, Hong Kong Women Workers Association


I. Prelude

With the impact of global economic slowdown becomes more apparent, and the seemingly of China's immunity to all these negative effects, the ruling elite in Hong Kong speak whole-heartedly about the further integration with mainland China as a way out of current economic and social predicament. Following the completion of industry deployment to Mainland China, the second capital exodus is on the way and gain momentum with China's imminent entry into WTO. In compare with the first capital exodus, this time, it is the financial and service sectors take the lead to plunge into the China market in pursuit of business opportunities. This time those who flock to "go north"? Hong Kong is in the southern part of China? are no longer the manufacturing workers and management personnel in this trade, but the professionals in various service sectors, such as trade, financial and legal profession. Women workers of Hong Kong are doom to be the losers in the globalization process. The de-industrialization has already flown the middle-aged manufacturing women workers out of the labor market and denounced their hard-learned skill as obsolete. The number of women employed in manufacturing sectors has dropped from 525 thousand in 1981 to 118 thousand in 2001. With Hong Kong earnestly pursue its regional specialization in trade, finance and information technology, displaced manufacturing women workers was told by the government to re-equipped themselves and learned skill which was need by the service sectors. Seeing that the service sector is on the way to "go north", it is not a remote prospect that women workers once again find themselves be dispensed and their latest learned skill lead them no where. Their employment rights and livelihood have been severely threatened, and their situation is retrogressing from bad to worse.


II. Recent Trend of Women Worker in Labor Market 

The Intensified Trend of Casualization

Women workers have been the hardest hit after the burst of Asian economic boom since 1997. Two features characterize the deteriorating employment situation of women workers. The first is the extensive scope of casualization. For those middle-age women workers who are displaced from manufacturing industries now constitute a large percentage of reserve labor for the service sectors. Majority encounters serious discrimination against age and education qualification in their efforts to seek for new employment. A large proportion ends up as manual workers in public housing estates, offices, restaurants, fast-food chain shops, in other word, in the lower strata of the service sectors. Those who are younger enough may get a job as saleswomen. Due to global trend of company downsize and so-called management flexibility, the employment on the basis of part-time, temporary and even subcontract is on the rise. The number of part-time workers increases by 32%, from 82 thousand in 1997 to 122 thousand in 2000. The percentage of the part-time workers against the whole working forces is from 2.8% to 4.3% in the same period. The impact of casualization does not affect the workforces evenly. Middle-aged women workers are the worst affected, for more than half of the part-time workers are women, and the sectors which have employed more part-time jobs are those sectors traditionally engage a large percentage of women workers, such as restaurants and hotels, wholesales and retail sectors. The trend of casualization will come to a full-blow. Apart from the profit-oriented private sector, the paces of the privatization in the public service run by the government have been accelerating in recent. More and more permanent jobs will be replaced by contract and temporary based work. Even worse, the government and big companies took the lead to deprive the women workers' right of labor benefit and protection. The notorious "4.18" restriction excludes those workers who work less than 18 hours per week the right of labor protection. As a result, companies are tempted to make use of the loophole of the labor law to their full advantage, most of the new job created are part-time jobs not exceeding 18 hours per week. Same as usual, it is the women workers who suffer most. 75% of those workers who fell out of the labor protection are women. The number of deprived women workers should be on the rise since more and more women find themselves no choice but compete with migrant workers in the field of domestic service. Even government officials kept on persuading women workers to take up this kind of job, despite the fact that part-time domestic helpers is the most insecure, low-paid job and seldom work more than 18 hours per week. At present, those women workers who are either underemployed or involuntary taking part-time job are amounted to 20% of the total women working population. It is clear that casualization affects not just women who are in the lower bottom of hierarchical employment structure, but also those who are taking white-collar job previously viewed as being secure and well paid. Nowadays many banks employ young women as flexible hourly-paid clerks with neither fringe benefits nor employment security. Even nurses and social workers (the major of them is female) employ on contract basis. As mention above, such employment practices easily deprive women of basic labor rights.


The Papaurization of Women Workers

The second trend is the papaurization among women workers. The trend becomes prominent in recent. One out of five employed women workers falls below the poverty line: earning less than half of the median monthly earning. The median monthly earning of HK in 2001 is HK$ 10,000 (US$1,282). In the same year there has been 344 thousand women workers earning less than HK$ 5,000 per month (24.5% out of a total of 1.4 million employed women). On the other hand, the lowest in the employment hierarchy, the largest the wage discrepancy between two sex. The median monthly earning of female unskilled workers is just HK$ 3,900 (US$ 500) which is nearly half of that of male unskilled workers, being HK$ 7,500 (US$ 961). According to the government's figure the unemployment rate of women workers is lower than that of male workers?4.2% and 5.7% in 2001 respectively?. This finding does not interpret that women workers are in relatively better position but rather women worker incline to take irregular, temporary-nature work. In short, they are on and off the labor market and are seeking for jobs without employment benefit and protection. The other factor attributes to the lower unemployment rate is the "hidden" unemployment as argued by feminist scholars that many women displaced workers identify themselves as "housewife" rather than "unemployed" while being interviewed. Moreover, for the official definition, unemployed worker is referred to those who are unemployed in the last 2 months preceding the interview. Many married women have already lost heart to find job and then classify themselves as "housewife". Some researchers even argued that women unemployment rate is amount to 25.8% rather than 6.2% (between Jan. To March 1999) as indicated from the official figure. It is foreseeable that the employment prospect of women workers would continue to be bleak. Contrary to reassurance of continuous prosperity being reiterated by HK government, China's entry to WTO only speeds up the pace of second capital exodus and then means further loss of jobs. For those sectors which are too intrinsic related to internal market, therefore are unable to have a share of the prevailing "goes north" euphoria, their answer to the ever-pressing demand to guarantee profit and competitiveness is to turn permanent jobs to causalized employment pattern. Therefore, more and more women workers will fall into the category of causalized worker. Taking causalized work is no longer a transitional job for married women from being full time housewives to become full time worker, or an alternative to meet the conflicting demands between family and paid work, but is the only work opportunity opening to them. To many grassroots women workers in Hong Kong, globalization means less job opportunities, structural unemployment, poorer working conditions with less labor rights protection, and reduced welfare in an affluent society.


III. Policy Advocated to Address Problems faced by women Workers

From the gloomy picture depicted in the above section, we draw the conclusion that women workers despite different nature of industries they are situated, common needs and demands could be drawn in facing similar setback from employment rights. As mentioned before, the number of causalized women workers will increase with the full-blow of privatization. It is clear that the reinstatement of employment rights for the women causalized workers should be put into agenda. Countermeasure should be set up to address the problems faced by most of the women workers

1. Protection of employment rights
    -  Remove "4.18" restriction which requires the fulfillment of 18 hours each week and continuously for 4 weeks as basic eligibility for labor protect. Introduce employment protection for workers in casualised employment such as part-time and temporary contract workers.
    -  Establish a minimum wage to ensure a reasonable wage for low-income groups. 
    -  Set up a comprehensive insurance scheme which covers retirement benefits and unemployment benefits, and guarantees basic living expenses for the aged, and those person who are unable to make contributions, such as women workers with low income, unemployed and unpaid housewives so they could also enjoy some basic social protection. 
    -  Increase the budget for social services. This could increase job opportunities on one hand while extending social services to relieve women of their heavy burden of family responsibilities on the other. 
    -  Stop sub-contracting public services to the private sector to put an end to the continued exploitation of labor.

2. Protection of equal opportunities in employment
    -  Legislate against age discrimination. Promote the elimination of age discrimination against women in employment. 
     -  Implement the principle of equal pay for work of equal value to address the phenomenon of job segregation by gender and to ensure reasonable remuneration for women's labor.

2001/11/13