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Women and gender
OpinionComment
Janet Pau
Janet Pau

The View | Bringing women back into the workplace is essential for Hong Kong’s pandemic recovery

  • Women’s wages and workforce participation have dropped since the start of the pandemic, while their unpaid duties have increased
  • But women are indispensable to Hong Kong’s future growth; closing the wage gap, while providing more support at home, can pave their re-entry to the workforce

Reading Time:4 minutes
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People head to work in Hong Kong’s Central district on April 15, 2020. Retaining skilled women in the workforce and expanding opportunities for them is crucial to driving economic prosperity. Photo: Nora Tam
Janet Pau

As new Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu focuses on Hong Kong’s economic outlook, he must do more to narrow the widening gender gap. Women are vital to solving the multiple challenges our city faces: the ongoing pandemic, economic recovery and the development of new sectors for future growth.

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The just-released World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report shows that global progress in achieving economic equality has been set back one entire generation by the pandemic. Economies in Asia lag behind and it is now estimated they will take more than 150 years to reach gender parity.
For two years, women in Hong Kong have been disproportionately shouldering unpaid domestic responsibilities, with more than 400 days of school closures and anti-pandemic measures putting huge stress on mothers and women caring for elderly or sick family members. Border closures and enduring restrictions have also made getting help from overseas much harder.

By contrast, some men said their well-being increased during the pandemic, with more time to relax, sleep and exercise.

The pandemic has reversed the trend of female workforce participation, which had been growing from a low base of just over 50 per cent – still behind many advanced economies. Female unemployment rates had been steadily declining in the five years before the pandemic, but doubled in 2020. As well as job losses, difficulties in juggling home and work responsibilities led some women to leave the workforce.

02:40

Job losses hit Indian women disproportionately during Covid-19 pandemic

Job losses hit Indian women disproportionately during Covid-19 pandemic

Progress in pay has also taken a hit. A decade ago, men and women in certain managerial, administrative and professional jobs were paid about the same, but by 2020 women across all industries were being paid less than men, regardless of their education level.

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