How Hong Kong's career women combine work and family life

What does it take for a woman to achieve success in Hong Kong's highly competitive work environment? Quite a lot, it transpires. Nevertheless, in a city that is uniquely supportive of helping women advance their careers, it is entirely possible.

It's an environment that can offer rich rewards in terms of both remuneration and career advancement. However, unlike locations where those rewards can come with a heavy price on family life or childcare responsibilities, Hong Kong offers an altogether more guilt-free experience.

One successful woman who has blended the two is Esther Ma Tin-wai, chief executive and founder of public relations agency Prestique. For her, success is about being able to combine her family life with running her own business. By installing a trusted team, the business allows her the flexibility she needs to spend time with her two young daughters.

Living in Hong Kong helped her immensely in starting her business, she says, thanks to its "work hard, play hard" mentality. "With Hong Kong being such an entrepreneurial city, it really helped me in my entrepreneurial spirit," Ma says. "A lot depends on word of mouth, connections and networking. It is such a small city that everyone knows everyone. It's very easy to go around and meet people."

Although hard work is very important, she says it must be balanced with fun. "I think a lot of Hong Kong people work too hard and don't play hard enough. Life is just so much more exciting if you can balance your life."

Combining a family with a career is not easy for women in any country. In many Western countries, physical exhaustion is a permanent facet of life for most working mothers as they try to juggle childcare, housework and the demands of their jobs. Personal time and time alone with their partner are usually a luxury they can only rarely enjoy.

In Hong Kong, women usually work the same long hours as their male counterparts, and flexitime and part-time work opportunities are rare exceptions. On the plus side, however, the easy availability of affordable domestic helpers allows many working women to rely on them to take care of not just their homes but also their children.

In a recent interview, Maseena Ziegler, author of , which profiles the stories of 12 female entrepreneurs, said many successful women cited home help as a major factor in their career success. "As one entrepreneur in the book puts it, you know dinner will be on the table when you get home or that your children will be picked up from school."

In a small city, contacts are critical and networking can make a difference in finding job and promotion opportunities. Many professional women find that formal networking opportunities are dominated by men. Nevertheless, women are increasingly finding alternative ways to expand their networks, such as through informal networking and by joining women-focused groups. The Women's Foundation (TWF) is a charity organisation that aims to improve the lives of women and girls in Hong Kong. TWF runs a high-powered mentoring programme and was instrumental in persuading the government to introduce paternity leave.