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Resource Net Friday File

Issue 250 

Friday November 11, 2005 

By Rochelle Jones

1) Women’s rights in Hong Kong: How are feminist movements dealing with the 

challenges? 

AWID interviews Sally Choi from the Association for the Advancement of 

Feminism, which is based in Hong Kong, about the issues facing women and 

how women are mobilizing for change. 

2) The fight for democracy and gender equality in Azerbaijan. 

International observers and human rights activists have described the 

recent elections in Azerbaijan as being laced with a wide range of serious 

violations. In addition to the struggle for democratic rule, women continue 

to fight battles against inequality in Azeri politics. AWID reports on the 

situation. 

AWID: How would you define and describe feminism in Hong Kong? 

SC: In the 1980s, some activists, in particular women, who participated in 

the social movements in the 1970s or were involved in grassroots 

organization work, were more aspired to feminist ideology and thoughts and 

had the mission and vision to kick off a local feminist movement in Hong 

Kong. A local Chinese feminist organization was founded in 1984, which is 

the Association for the Advancement of Feminism (AAF). 

In the past twenty years, there have been over ten women’s organizations 

founded in Hong Kong with different degrees of identification with 

feminism. Besides AAF, Hong Kong Women Workers Association, the Hong Kong 

Women Christian Council, the Hong Kong Federation of Women’s Centre, the 

Harmony House, Ziteng, Reaching Out, Queer Sisters, Sexual Violence 

Concerned Group, Kwan Fook Concerned Group of Women’s Rights, and F Union 

have been actively involved either individually on various fronts like 

politics, the labour market, media, church, sexuality, family; or 

collectively on common issues like pornography, sexual violence, 

inheritance rights for women, equal opportunity rights, justice and peace, 

democracy and so on. Forming an alliance to show solidarity and power among 

women’s organization has been a common practice amongst feminist movements 

in Hong Kong, but each organization has its own goals, strategies and 

problems. 

Hong Kong in the millennium needs a women’s movement with a clear feminist 

vision that takes into account the pluralities of women’s backgrounds and 

needs, paying attention in particular to those groups of women who are 

being marginalized in the present system, such as low income women, single 

mothers, women of sexual minorities, and women of different racial or 

ethnic backgrounds. We need to intervene into social policies that produce 

gender inequalities, as well as the cultural order that reinforces gender 

hierarchy to achieve social changes that benefit women. 

AWID: Tell us more about the work of the Association for the Advancement of 

Feminism (AAF). 

SC: AAF was set up on March 8, 1984. The objective is to eliminate 

discrimination against women and to eliminate discrimination against women 

and to fight for sexual equality. AAF is a non-profit organization 

supported by incomes from membership subscription, annual fundraising 

campaigns, donations and sales of publications. We currently have about 130 

members and a network of supporters. The Aim and mission of our organization 

is working in collaboration with women’s groups and other activist groups to 

promote the local women’s movements. All our programmes aim to fight against 

sexism and therefore benefit women in general, paying attention to the

conditions and needs of different groups of women such as low income women,

single mothers, homemakers, lesbian and bisexual women, Asian immigrant

workers, and newly arrived women from mainland China.

AAF is a member-oriented organization. That is to say, the organization

provides a kind of platform or space for members to initiate projects that

suit their interests and concern. The Executive Committee, with the help of

the staff members, only plays the role of coordination, facilitation and

connection. Therefore members’ background, motivation, vision, interests,

sense of belonging and specialization are the important leading forces that

keep the organization going. At the same time, who, when and how one joins

AAF has much to say about the external environment as well as the internal

cohesiveness of the organization.

The AAF incorporates policy advocacy and campaigns, a sex discrimination

hotline, research and publications, and resource development. We have

played an active role in successfully campaigning for the legal rights of

women, which include the inheritance rights of New Territories indigenous

women, the extension of the United Nations Convention of the Elimination of

All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) to Hong Kong, and the

enactment of the Sex Discrimination Ordinance. We have produced abundant

resources on the exploration of gender issues in Hong Kong, including

research reports, books, education kits, audio-visual resources, and the

set up of the Women’s Resource Centre. In addition, our Chinese quarterly

magazine Nuliu provides an important forum for the exploration and sharing

of women’s experiences and the launching of the Women’s Directory Website

in 2002 represents our efforts to develop cyberspace as an information and

resource hub for women.

Our current programmes are to:

- monitor the work of the Equal Opportunities Commission and the Women’s

Commission;

- conduct research on overseas experiences of sexual orientation

discrimination ordinance and relevant legal and voluntary measures (and we

will set up a website for this information);

- work with lesbian and gay groups to campaign for the enactment of

legislation against sexual orientation discrimination;

- lobby for gender mainstreaming in public policy planning;

- run a free legal advice service for women and provide support services

for women who wish to file a complaint with the Equal Opportunities

Commission;

- campaign for women’s retirement protection;

- promote understanding of the _expression_ of female sexuality through a

project which explores women’s experiences in using pornography;

- conduct oral history project on women’s experiences in intimate

relationships and alternative family forms;

- further analyze the survey on women’s sexuality in Hong Kong conducted

from 2003 to 2005;

- produce and maintain the AAF and Women’s Directory Websites;

- computerize the Women’s Resource Centre for online and internet

searching;

- conduct research on Sex Stereotypes in Magazine Advertisements.

AWID: From your experience, what are the challenges facing women in Hong

Kong today?

SC: The marginalisation of women in Hong Kong is deep-rooted in structural

and cultural biases. In recent years, violence against women and the

feminization of poverty have emerged as the major concerns in HK. The

economic situation of women has been deteriorating. Economic restructuring

has displaced many women workers from their jobs and they have had

difficulties in finding comparable new jobs because of their age and

educational background. Many have had to move to low status and low paid

jobs to earn a living. Women are therefore more prone to fall in to the

poverty trap.

Domestic violence is also a major problem in HK. In 2004, there was a case

in which a mother and her two daughters were stabbed to death, just hours

after she sought help from police and social workers. Too often, domestic

violence is trivialised as a ”mere family dispute”. Police tend to regard

fights and assaults between couples as family matters unless there are

serious injuries and/or one of the parties insists on prosecution. Such a

practice neglects a gender and power imbalance in which it is often hard

for the woman to insist on prosecution.

Social workers in this case also showed gender insensitivity and bias. The

wife’s pleas for help were disregarded. A trained person with a gender

perspective should know that she was demonstrating a classic symptom of

abused victims – threatened by her husband’s violence but at the same time

she wanted to maintain the ”wholeness” of her family. The stress on

family unity only makes it more difficult for women to leave an abusive

relationship.

However, the most fundamental concern is the lack of gender perspective in

all government policies, including those specifically aimed at women, such

as the family services policy. It is also clear that the government does

not conduct gender impact assessments to identify potential discrimination

and gender blind spots in the planning and implementation of its policies

and legislation.

AWID: What types of change would you like to see then, for women’s rights

in Hong Hong?

SC: Generally, I would like to see changes in policies like setting up a

minimum wage and maximum working hours; a social security system with

contributions from government; employers and employees that can provide

basic protection for the beneficiaries. Most importantly, the government

should learn that policies and services impact men and women differently,

and that without a gender perspective, government policies and services

will continue to be fragmented and continue to discriminate against women.

The government should conduct gender impact assessments to identify

potential discrimination and gender blind spots in the planning and

implementation of its policies and legislation.

AWID: How are women in Hong Kong mobilising for these kinds of changes?

SC: During the period of the mid and late 1990s, AAF was more active in

gender education, research and publication. There were courses, seminars

and other kinds of educational activities organized for high school

students, university students, social workers and teachers.

The publication of oral history projects like Tears and Laughter—-Oral

History of Elderly Women (1998) and 16+—-Oral History of Young Women

(2002), the research report on New Milestone of Women’s Affairs—-Gender

Mainstreaming (2001), anthology of conference papers on Difference and

Equality—-New Challenges of Women’s Movement in Hong Kong (2001) etc. and

the re-vitalizing of the journal Nuliu in 1996 were indicators showing a

gradual cultural turn in the development of the AAF.

This implied that the organization was more conscious of setting the agenda

for the movement by that time rather than just reacting to ad hoc issues or

social and political changes. All these moves have attracted more

culturally oriented young women, including university students, joining the

organization. These young women are less experienced in collective actions

but more culturally sensitive and individualistic. The post 1997 political

and economic decline in Hong Kong is an external factor that has increased

the helplessness of the younger generation in political actions, and

attracted more young women to become active in women’s organisations.

————————————————

2) The fight for democracy and gender equality in Azerbaijan.

Recent elections in Azerbaijan have been described by international

observers and human rights activists as being laced with a wide range of

serious violations. In addition to the struggle for democratic rule, women

continue to fight battles against inequality in Azeri politics. AWID

reports on the situation.

By Rochelle Jones

Just days ago, on November 6, parliamentary elections were held in

Azerbaijan, an oil-rich former Soviet republic, strategically situated

between Iran and Russia. In 2003, which was the year that brought President

Ilham Aliyev to power, replacing his father, there were massive protests

against the fraudulent elections and although some inroads have been made

in cleaning up the election process this year, the recent elections have

also been tainted with allegations of fraud, violence and intimidation.

In the weeks before the election, for example, Human Rights Watch (HRW)

called on the Azerbaijani government to ”immediately stop harassing

opposition and independent activists, to allow freedom of assembly and to

desist from intimidation on election day” [1]. According to HRW, police

violence and arbitrary arrests of hundreds of opposition activists were

taking place during the campaign period, seriously undermining the

integrity of the election. A Protest Letter signed by human rights

organizations and activists in Azerbaijan on October 9, documented the

brutal injuries of twelve journalists, with one remaining in a coma [2]. In

the aftermath of the elections, a statement from the Organisation for

Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) indicated that the election did

not meet certain international standards, including serious violations in

vote counting and tabulation as well as intimidation of observers.

Azerbaijan’s constitution guarantees equal rights for women, and yet

according to Nabat Gamiyeva – a woman who ran as an independent in the

election campaign – women’s rights are being ignored, despite the key role

women played in the national liberation movement in 1990 and their push for

democracy in the period following independence [4]. Only 12 percent of the

current Parliament are women, compared to 39 percent pre-independence.

Two prominent Azerbaijani women: Novella Jafaroglu-Applebaum, who is

co-founder and director of the Association for the Protection of Women’s

Rights; and Lynn Sferrazza, director of the Baku office of the American Bar

Association’s Central European and Eurasian Law Initiative, are clearly

frustrated with the cultural and political barriers women are facing in

Azerbaijan, [5]. These barriers are deeply rooted in traditional gender

stereotypes, but also directly related to a government that fears any kind

of dissent from the population, and particularly marginalized groups such

as women, highlighting the importance of democracy for women’s rights to be

realised.

Women in Azerbaijan currently face a compounded struggle interweaving the

need for democratic reforms and gender equality. One telling example is the

struggle of Muslim women who wear Islamic head scarves. Earlier this year,

the deadline passed for all Azerbaijani citizens to surrender their old

Soviet passports for new identity cards, but the current regulations

prohibit people from wearing hats in photographs, including head scarves.

This outraged thousands of Muslim women, who mobilized before the elections

and were successful in forcing the Central Election Commission to accept

their Soviet passports as identification in order to cast their votes.

The ban on head-scarves in identity card photographs, however, remains in

force and means that women from a Muslim-majority country are unable to

prove their identity and access every-day services such as checking into

hospitals, registering residence or acquiring birth certificates for their

children [6]. Women who want to travel are restricted unless they pose for

their passport photograph without their head scarf, and for these women,

this is not only an encroachment of their right to religious _expression_,

but a direct barrier to their participation in society and in politics. It

is also an example of a government that refuses to give in on issues of

contention to elements of the population who disagree with them – a

worrying symptom of a government pulling out all the stops to remain in

power.

What happens next in Azerbaijani politics is largely dependent on civil

society groups and the reaction of the opposition coalition to the election

results. Preliminary results indicate that the ruling party, along with many

independents who are loyal to the President, won the majority of seats in

parliament [7]. The opposition is hopeful, however, that democracy is not

too far off, given the political upheavals following contested elections in

Georgia, Ukraine and Kyrgystan. True democracy could never be too soon for

the women of Azerbaijan, who are relying on the absolute minimum of

democracy to see gender on the agenda in their country.

Notes:

[1] Human Rights Watch 2005. ”Azerbaijan: Run-up to Election Not Free or

Fair”. October 31, 2005. Available from

http://hrw.org/english/docs/2005/10/31/azerba11943_txt.htm

[2] Protest Letter available from http://www.humanrightshouse.org

[3] See EUobserver, 8 November 2005, http://euobserver.com

[4] Cited in Schleifer, Yigal 2005. ”Azerbaijan Women Led Revolt, Now

Pushed Out” in Women’s eNews,

http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm?aid=2508

[5] Ibid.

[6] Ingram, Judith 2005. ”Azerbaijan Defuses Head-Scarf Controversy”.

Associated Press. Available from

http://www.news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051101/ap_on_re_eu/azerbaijan_head_scarf_dispute

[7] Refer to Note 3.

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