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Gender Equality
Victim of sexual harassment through e-mail wins compensation(Go Top)
A women who was bombarded with sexually harassed e-mail by a colleague, a senior staff of the company, has been offered HK$150,000 (US$19,000) and an apology.
This is the first case of its kind mediated by the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) successfully and involved large amount of compensation under the new sex discrimination law.
EOC received the complaint last year, being told by the victim that obscene e-mail were received continuously from her male boss, which seriously affected her work. She had been disgusted by the messages and was forced to resign .
EOC investigated the case by examining the computer records and conducting interviews with colleagues of the complainant. Finally the boss of the complainant agreed to pay HK$150,000 as compensation for the spiritual and financial loss because of her resignation. However, the man is still employed while the woman is jobless.
That is one of the cases among many and indicate how we handle complaint cases, EOC chairperson Dr Fanny Cheung Mui-ching said. During the first five months of this year, EOC received 178 complaints relating to discrimination. Of these, 127 cases need investigation and mediation - over 60% involving discrimination against disabilities, 30% sex discrimination, and only 3% on the ground of marital status.
Among the 38 cases in the sex discrimination category, 20 can be mediated successfully, 1 take legal action. Successful rate is 52.63%.
However, successful rate regarding cases of discrimination against disabilities is much lower, with only about 20% among the 85 cases.
September 1998
Stigma over marital breakdown still exist(Go Top)
Women developed symptoms ranging from severe depression to mental breakdown sought psychiatric help even more than five years after their divorce, a survey has shown.
Research conducted by the University of Hong Kong Social Work Department and women's organizations found that one-third of divorced women among the 58 women who were given counseling in group therapy sessions between March and December in 1997 sought help because of the stigma of divorced women.
They said that men still thought they should marry virgin brides and divorcees were seen as "second-hand".
Professor Cecilia Chan Lai-wan, professor of the university in charge of the study, said that some women suffered from extremely low-esteem and had difficulty sleeping after divorce, some were scare of telling the situation to their families and suffered psychologically because they blamed themselves.
There was a growing divorce rate in Hong Kong with 10,000 divorces last year compared to 6,500 I 1987.
September 1998
Inquiry on sex bias in pupils places in school(Go Top)
The Equal Opportunities Commission has invoked its legal investigative power for the first time since its establishment in May 1996, to study whether pupils are being discriminated against in secondary school place allocation because of their sex. Results of the investigation would be available in about six months.
Director of Education Helen Yu Lai Ching-ping pledged full co-operation with the commission, and said that the Education Department would consider constructive recommendations from the Commission.
Commission chairperson Dr. Fanny Cheung Mui-ching said the commission has received several inquiries from parents of both boys and girls at Primary Six who feel the system has treated their children unfairly. Some parents discovered that daughters who had performed well in schools were given a lower banding and allocated less favorable schools than their male counterparts.
In July, more than 72,000 Primary Six students knew which secondary schools they would attend. For the first time, they were also told of their banding because of new laws on access for information.
Dr. Cheung said the investigation would review policies, procedures and data. At this stage, the commission does not have enough information to determine whether the system is discriminatory or not.
Since 1983, the Education Department had allocated places separately for girls and boys. It said that if boys and girls were assessed together, the former would lose out because girls usually did better in examinations and boys did better in the Academic Aptitude Test.
August 1998