Gender Inequality in Household

    Twenty-two-year-old Amy comes from a traditional Chaozhou family, which is often known for its strict male dominance. She told of her unfair treatment in her family.

     "In my family," said Amy, "Male members do not need to do any housework. Female members are responsible for all the domestic chores."

    Her family may be one of the many patriarchal families in Hong Kong. While feminists raise their voices against evident inequalities in the workplace, gender inequalities also occur in the household, mostly in implicit forms.

    The society assigns specific roles to its male and female members. As a result, men and women are expected to have different attitudes and behaviour.

    In traditional Chinese families, females are assigned the role of housekeepers while males are regarded breadwinners.

    Prof. Maria Tam Siu Mi, associate professor of the Department of Anthropology of The Chinese University of Hong Kong, said due to the assignation of roles, 50 percent of women have to leave the labour force after their marriages. The phenomenon of gender inequality is hence reinforced.

     "In families," said Prof. Tam, "Women are not paid for doing housework because society perceives this as their responsibility and takes this for granted.

     "Since women do not earn money to support the family, they have no authority to make decisions for the family. As a result, females are considered as less clever and competent than males."

    In Chinese culture, the social role that a female plays is determined by her relationship with males. This thinking also reinforces gender inequality.

     "When a girl is young," said Prof. Tam, "she is treated as her father's daughter. When she is grown up, she is treated as her husband's wife.

     "Society does not consider a female as an individual and so the idea of gender inequality is strengthened."

    Design of housing units may affect gender roles in families.

    In January, the Housing Authority announced the change in designs of Harmony Blocks. The revised designs, proving more public housing flats of small-scale, allow tenants to make better use of space.

    The new designs will reduce the size of kitchens and the floor areas of three-bedroom flats. Access to kitchens and bedrooms will also be adjusted.

    Prof. Hui Po Keung, assistant professor of the Department of Translation of Lingnan College, said the new designs are implicit discrimination against women. Prof. Hui has been studying housing problem for nearly 10 years.

     "The kitchen can accommodate two persons originally," said Prof. Hui. "However, its area will be reduced in the new designs, accommodating only one person."

    To adapt to the reduced kitchen size, housekeepers will need to put cooking utensils in good order.

    Prof. Hui said, "This will increase the workload of housekeepers, who are usually mothers and grandmothers in families.

    It will be difficult for the other family members to find the cooking utensils. Consequently, they will not help the housekeepers to do housework with the excuse that they cannot find the utensils.

    In other words, the designs will encourage housework to be done solely by housekeepers, who are usually women, but not to be shared among family members.

     "This reflects that the Housing Authority's architects neglect the needs of women and do not recognize the work done by housekeepers," said Prof. Hui.

    In addition, the decrease in the floor areas of three-bedroom flats will reduce the buffer area, making the flats more crowded.

    Said Prof. Hui: "Reduction in floor areas will increase the c hance of conflict among family members. Crowded flats will also adversely affect women."

    According to Prof. Hui, since housekeepers, who are usually women, often stay in the flats, they are more likely to be affected by the nuisance caused by the crowded environment.

    He said that architects in foreign countries would consider the needs of women in their designs.

     "The internal designs of flats in foreign countries allow residents to redesign their flats flexibly, on the basis of their own needs," said Prof. Hui.

    As the one who does the housework, Amy does not favour the reduction of kitchen areas in public housing flats.

    Feeling treated unequally in her family, she said, "Females should work harder to overcome gender inequalities."

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