Double standards in Hong Kong

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33539, 21 May 1974, Page 6

Double standards in Hong Kong

(ByROSSLYN RIX)

it is one of the anomalies of the life style in places such as Hong Kong that while some women have never done a stroke of house--1 work in their lives others have done virtually nothing else. When feminism came to Hong Kong last year it inadvertently raised the question of another double standard, that is, one for “missy” and one. for her amah (servant). The privilege of having an amah is not confined to the expatriots, for most middleclass Chinese families have until now employed one and more affluent families often have several. When the International Feminist League officially opened its branch in Hong Kong the Chinese women either did not know it existed or were not impressed by its aims. At a press conference to mark the opening of the branch one Chinese and three American women answered questions about the function and aims of the league. The Chinese girl was much less vociferous than her American counterparts but in her typical soft Chinese voice she tried to convince the audience that the Chinese women needed liberating and wanted it.

Perhaps her mind was on what her amah was preparing

for dinner, or whether she had picked the children up from school on time, but she was not very convincing. The American women also

Writer honoured The English writer, V. S. Pritchett has been elected President of Pen, the International Writers Association, succeeding the Nobel Prize winner, Heinrich Boell, of West Germany. Mr Pritchett, aged 74, has written several novels, but his reputation rests mainly on his short stories and his literary criticism. — Ohrid, Jugoslavia, May 20.

had amahs at home preparing meals, cleaning the flat and looking after the children — that, after all, was how they could manage the time to be out campaigning for the feminists. It was evident from some of the feminists’ meetings that it was a worth-while organisation — at least for the married European women in the community. Their meetings were well conducted and the women present seemed to enjoy the chance to talk over problems in an intelligent manner. But the lack of Chinese representation at the meetings was evident. Chinese women, no matter how Westernised and sophisticated, are not yet at the stage of getting together with a group of other women to discuss the psychology behind male chauvinism. According to ancient and revered traditions men and women keep to their places, although this does not exclude women from big business. OWN CLUBS The Chinese women have their own clubs where they go to play mahjong, talk about how much they won or lost at the races and so on. They never discuss what they are having for dinner or how the children are behaving, favourite topics when Western women gather. The amahs take care of domestic chores and nobody questions the system, not even the liberated European women who leave ' their household duties in’the capable hands of their servants while they go off to feminist meetings. When the demise of the

servant trade is finally complete — it is not the sort of work young girls are taking up and the older ones are pricing themselves out of the market — it will be interesting to see how long it takes the normal Chinese housewife in Hong Keng, the present political situation prevailing, to feel the drudgery of housework and revolt against it.