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International Women's Day
ChinaPolitics

Explainer | Gender equality at work: how do Hong Kong, mainland China, Singapore and other places compare?

  • Around the world, the proportion of women in the workforce is lower than for men
  • Parental leave, pay and protections against harassment also give an idea of progress

Reading Time:4 minutes
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In mainland China, the labour participation rate was estimated at 61 per cent for women in 2020, and 74.5 per cent for men. Photo: AFP
Melissa Zhu
International Women’s Day is celebrated around the world on March 8.
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In mainland China, the government advises employers to give women half a day off work, and e-commerce platforms promote “Goddesses’ Day” or “Queens’ Day” sales. Women in Italy traditionally receive bouquets of yellow mimosa flowers – symbolising strength and solidarity – from loved ones. In the US, a presidential proclamation about gender equality is issued ahead of March every year, designated Women’s History Month in the country.

But beyond flowers, proclamations and holidays, International Women’s Day is about the continued fight for gender equality – a goal that arguably no country can claim to have completely achieved so far.

Gender equality is complicated to measure because discrimination against women and girls takes many different forms depending on specific cultural contexts. But in the workforce, some areas that are discussed globally include labour participation, parental leave policies, fair pay and protections against harassment.

Here’s how Hong Kong, mainland China, Singapore and other places measure up in these areas.

Workforce participation

In many cultures, women are still the primary caretakers in families and bear most of the burden when it comes to household chores and childcare. Hence, around the world the proportion of women holding down paid jobs is lower than for men.

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