Poverty and Women Poverty

1

• Poverty and Women Poverty
• in Hong Kong
• by
• Dr. Ho Wing Chung
• Assistant Professor, Dept. of Applied Social
  Studies
• City University of Hong Kong
• Ms. Suen Wing Chi, Christine
• Office-in-charge, Sunrise Court
• Po Leung Kuk
• 9th July 2007

2
Acknowledgements

• Society for Community Organization (SOCO)
• www.soco.org.hk
• SoCO is an incorporated, non-profit-making
  and non-governmental community organization. It
  was formed in 1972 by church people and was
  financially supported by donations from churches,
  overseas funding bodies, the Community Chest and
  individuals. SoCO has, through civic education
  programs and social actions, nurtured grassroots
  people with a sense of civic responsibility so
  that they can flex their political muscle. These
  people have, during the course, regained their
  self-confidence and cemented with one another to
  champion for an equal social system.

3
Plan

• 1. Some facts related to poverty in HK.
• 2. Women poverty in HK.
• 3. Domestic violence as a case in point.
• 4. Discussions

4
Some Questions to Start with

• What is CSSA?
• How poverty is officially defined in HK?
• Is Gini-coefficient higher is HK or in Canada?
• What is meant by new immigrants in HK?
• Which regions/districts in HK are where most poor
  people in HK live?
• What make people poor in HK?

5
Map
6
Facts

• Family Structure
• The average household size in 1991 is 3.4
  persons, which has dropped to 3.0 in 2006.
• (Source Census and Statistics Department
  (2006). Hong Kong Annual Digest of Statistics
  2006 Edition Census and Statistics Department
  (2006). Women and Men in Hong Kong Key
  Statistics Census and Statistics Department
  (March 2007) Hong Kong Monthly Digest of
  Statistics)

7
Facts

• Cross-border marriage
• There are 17.9 of marriages involved mainlanders
  in 2001, which increase to 36.3 in 2004 with
  increasing number of female HK residents married
  male residents in the mainland.
• (Source Census and Statistics Department (2006).
  Hong Kong Annual Digest of Statistics 2006
  Edition Census and Statistics Department (2006).
  Women and Men in Hong Kong Key Statistics Census
  and Statistics Department (March 2007) Hong Kong
  Monthly Digest of Statistics)

8
Facts

• Divorce
• The number of female single parents increases
  markedly by 95, from 23,059 in 1991 to 45,072 in
  2001. However, the number of male single parents
  rises less significantly, from 11,479 in 1991 to
  13,388 (increased by 17) in 2001
• (Source Census and Statistics Department (2006).
  Hong Kong Annual Digest of Statistics 2006
  Edition Census and Statistics Department (2006).
  Women and Men in Hong Kong Key Statistics Census
  and Statistics Department (March 2007) Hong Kong
  Monthly Digest of Statistics)

9
Facts

• Working hour
• Either one parents and both parents with weekly
  working hours more than 60 hours, increases by
  30 (either one) and 42(both) respectively,
  making up a total number of 0.2 million families
  in the last decade (1996-2005).
• (Source Census and Statistics Department (2006).
  Hong Kong Annual Digest of Statistics 2006
  Edition Census and Statistics Department (2006).
  Women and Men in Hong Kong Key Statistics Census
  and Statistics Department (March 2007) Hong Kong
  Monthly Digest of Statistics)

10
Facts

• Domestic violence
• In the last decade, the newly report child abuse
  cases increases by 145, from 311 cases in 1996
  to 763 cases in 2005. The battered spouse cases
  increases dramatically by 257, from 1009 cases
  in 1998 to 3598 cases in 2005.
• (Source Census and Statistics Department (2006).
  Hong Kong Annual Digest of Statistics 2006
  Edition Census and Statistics Department (2006).
  Women and Men in Hong Kong Key Statistics Census
  and Statistics Department (March 2007) Hong Kong
  Monthly Digest of Statistics)

11
Facts

• Poverty
• Poverty those living under monthly income less
  than/equal to half of median household income of
  all other household of same size
• In Hong Kong, the Gini coefficient has been
  increasing in the past twenty years. The figure
  in 1981, 1991 and 2001 are 0.451, 0.476 and 0.525
  respectively. In addition, the increase from 1991
  to 2001 is even more rapid than in the years from
  1981 to 1991.
• (Source Census and Statistics Department (2006).
  Hong Kong Annual Digest of Statistics 2006
  Edition Census and Statistics Department (2006).
  Women and Men in Hong Kong Key Statistics Census
  and Statistics Department (March 2007) Hong Kong
  Monthly Digest of Statistics)

12
Video (approx. 4 minutes)

• Just a documentary shown on TV last week
• The documentary contrasts the happy scenes of the
  1st July Handover celebration and the bitter
  scene of the poor.
• The documentary introduces the stories of one
  street-sleeper in Central and a couple (new
  immigrants) in Sham Shui Po.
• It also mentions the Gini-coefficient and the
  minimum wage policy as a solution.

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http//www.rthk.org.hk/rthk/tv/legco_review/200707
05.html
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Poverty
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???????The population of New Immigrants Women
from the mainland China

• ????????????184,935?,??80??(1998?2004?),????20?39
  ?,?????????, ????????

• From 1998 to 2004, there are 184,935 new
  immigrants women coming from the mainland China,
  while 80 of them got married aged 20-39, over
  70 of them with secondary education level and
  over 80 came from Guangdong province.

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????????? (1994??2004?) The number of New
Immigrants women from mainland China
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??????????????????????(2006?)The number of New
Immigrants women and non-new immigrants women by
education level (2006)
???????????????????The education level of the new
immigrants women from mainland China is generally
lower than the non-new immigrants.
20
???????????????????????? (2006?) The number of
New Immigrants women and non-new immigrants women
by economic activity (2006)
???????????, ??, ?????, ???????Most of the new
immigrants women participated into
services of wholesale, retail and trading,
restaurants and hotels.
21
????????????????????????????? (2006?) The number
of New Immigrants women and non-new immigrants
women by main employment (2006)

• ????(50.8)??????????????6000?,???????????(30.7)
  ?
• More than a half (50.8) of employed new
  immigrants women with a monthly earning less
  than 6,000, which is significant higher
  than that of the non-new immigrants women.
  (30.7)

22
???????????????(1999??2005?)CSSA Application
for New Immigrants arriving Hong Kong less than
one year (1999 - 2005)
23
Some Questions about Women Poverty

• Family strategies (husband-wife employment, CSSA
  for kids)
• Discrimination (Self-esteem)
• Expectation on migration
• Aspiration in life
• One more dimension before I end my part space

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Which area is poorer, this one?
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Or, this one?
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This one?
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Or, this one?
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• Which region you want to live in?

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• NEXT Part
• Domestic violence as a case in Point!

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Statistics from the mid-term evaluation of the
Refuge Services of Sunrise Court in Dec 2005 ( N
339 )
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Table 4.1 Demographic Characteristics of
Respondents in PLK (N339)

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• Over half of the respondents (69.9) and their
  spouse (74.4) had education qualification of
  less than Form 3 level. About 35 of the
  respondents spouses were unemployed at the time
  of the survey. Regarding marital status, most of
  the respondents were married or cohabiting, with
  7.4 of them being divorced or separated with
  their partners.

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• Of the refuges recruited between 2002 and 2005, a
  large portion of them were transferred from
  Social Welfare Department (SWD) and
  Non-Government Organizations (NGO). Over 45 of
  the refuges were living in Kowloon and about a
  third of them were from the New Territories. Over
  90 of them were new to the shelter, or even to
  the functioning of the whole shelter service.

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Although over 62 of the respondents have
finished secondary school or above, over a third
of them have family income less than 10000, with
23.1 of them on CSSA
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Table 5.4 Refuge profiles part 4
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Regarding reason for entering the shelter, most
of them were being physically abused (60.4) or
they were frightened by the tense relation in
their family (19.7). When the refuges left the
shelter, over a third of them were going back to
their partner, while only a fifth of them would
divorced their partners and move to other place
42
Case study

• Amy F/ 35
• ? Marry a HK resident ( Male / 53 years old )
  in 2001
• gave birth to a baby girl in the same
  year and lived
• in China
• ? Came to HK to live in 2006 together with the
  girl
• ? Husband unemployed addicted gambler
  indebtedness live in a small flat in PH
• Frequent argues and fights began
  financial
• problem child care problem marital
  problem
• in-law conflict adjustment problems
• Amy went out to work ( cleaning worker in
  
• restaurant )

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• Financial problems --- need money to pay debt,
  rent, food and clothes, school fee and books,
  school uniform etc.
• Child care problems --- emotional and behavioral
  problems of the children
• Marital problems --- mistrust, poor communication
  skills, poor anger control, strong suspicion EMA
• In-law conflict --- poor relationship with
  mother-in-law and father-in-law
• Adjustment problems --- cultural difference,
  language barrier

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Case study
?
Amy came out to work ( cleaning worker in
restaurant )
?
Physical abuse begins husband with jealousy (
suspecting Extra Marital Affair ) low
self-esteem poor anger management loss face
stop Amy from working
?
Serious injuries report to police refer
to refuge by police or social worker
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Amy

• Helplessness Lack of support lack of resource
  guilt feeling on leaving the family
• Language barrier being look down upon
  different culture low education level

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She is

• Bread-winner of the family
• The sole carer of the daughter
• victim of domestic violence incident
• The only hope of her family to get rid of poverty
  in China
• ?

47
Things to consider before ending a marriage

• Negative comment from husbands family members
• Pressure from her own family
• Future living of the daughter and herself
  ---where to live and how to survive
• Welfare of husband

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• END, THX!!!