After the Hong Kong miracle: Women workers under industrial restructuring

Asian Survey

Volumn 37, Issue 8, 1997, Pages 752-768

  Chiu, Stephen W K ^a   Lee, Ching Kwan ^a  

^a CHINESE UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG   (Hong Kong)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

DEVELOPING COUNTRY; ECONOMIC GROWTH; ECONOMIC RESTRUCTURING; GENDER ISSUES; LABOUR PARTICIPATION; LIVING STANDARDS; WOMEN'S STATUS;

CHINA, HONG KONG;

EID: 0031411182     PISSN: 00044687     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1525/as.1997.37.8.01p0272z     Document Type: Article

References (21)

1. Most recent studies focus on structural transformation rather than human consequences. For example, see Stephen W. K. Chiu, K. C. Ho, and Tai-lok Lui, The City-States in the Global Economy (Boulder, Colo.: Westview, 1997); Gordon Clark and W. B. Kim, Asian NIEs and Global Economy (Washington, D.C.: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1997); and Hugh Patrick and Larry Meissner, eds., Pacific Basin Industries in Distress (New York: Columbia University Press, 1991). For studies that pay special attention to employment implications of restructuring, see John Bauer, "Industrial Restructuring in the NIEs: Prospects and Challenges," Asian Survey 32:11 (November 1992), pp. 1012-1025; and Committee for Asian Women, Silk and Steel: Asian Women Workers Confront Challenges of Industrial Restructuring (Hong Kong: Committee for Asian Women, 1995).
2. Most recent studies focus on structural transformation rather than human consequences. For example, see Stephen W. K. Chiu, K. C. Ho, and Tai-lok Lui, The City-States in the Global Economy (Boulder, Colo.: Westview, 1997); Gordon Clark and W. B. Kim, Asian NIEs and Global Economy (Washington, D.C.: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1997); and Hugh Patrick and Larry Meissner, eds., Pacific Basin Industries in Distress (New York: Columbia University Press, 1991). For studies that pay special attention to employment implications of restructuring, see John Bauer, "Industrial Restructuring in the NIEs: Prospects and Challenges," Asian Survey 32:11 (November 1992), pp. 1012-1025; and Committee for Asian Women, Silk and Steel: Asian Women Workers Confront Challenges of Industrial Restructuring (Hong Kong: Committee for Asian Women, 1995).
3. Most recent studies focus on structural transformation rather than human consequences. For example, see Stephen W. K. Chiu, K. C. Ho, and Tai-lok Lui, The City-States in the Global Economy (Boulder, Colo.: Westview, 1997); Gordon Clark and W. B. Kim, Asian NIEs and Global Economy (Washington, D.C.: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1997); and Hugh Patrick and Larry Meissner, eds., Pacific Basin Industries in Distress (New York: Columbia University Press, 1991). For studies that pay special attention to employment implications of restructuring, see John Bauer, "Industrial Restructuring in the NIEs: Prospects and Challenges," Asian Survey 32:11 (November 1992), pp. 1012-1025; and Committee for Asian Women, Silk and Steel: Asian Women Workers Confront Challenges of Industrial Restructuring (Hong Kong: Committee for Asian Women, 1995).
4. Most recent studies focus on structural transformation rather than human consequences. For example, see Stephen W. K. Chiu, K. C. Ho, and Tai-lok Lui, The City-States in the Global Economy (Boulder, Colo.: Westview, 1997); Gordon Clark and W. B. Kim, Asian NIEs and Global Economy (Washington, D.C.: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1997); and Hugh Patrick and Larry Meissner, eds., Pacific Basin Industries in Distress (New York: Columbia University Press, 1991). For studies that pay special attention to employment implications of restructuring, see John Bauer, "Industrial Restructuring in the NIEs: Prospects and Challenges," Asian Survey 32:11 (November 1992), pp. 1012-1025; and Committee for Asian Women, Silk and Steel: Asian Women Workers Confront Challenges of Industrial Restructuring (Hong Kong: Committee for Asian Women, 1995).
5. Most recent studies focus on structural transformation rather than human consequences. For example, see Stephen W. K. Chiu, K. C. Ho, and Tai-lok Lui, The City-States in the Global Economy (Boulder, Colo.: Westview, 1997); Gordon Clark and W. B. Kim, Asian NIEs and Global Economy (Washington, D.C.: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1997); and Hugh Patrick and Larry Meissner, eds., Pacific Basin Industries in Distress (New York: Columbia University Press, 1991). For studies that pay special attention to employment implications of restructuring, see John Bauer, "Industrial Restructuring in the NIEs: Prospects and Challenges," Asian Survey 32:11 (November 1992), pp. 1012-1025; and Committee for Asian Women, Silk and Steel: Asian Women Workers Confront Challenges of Industrial Restructuring (Hong Kong: Committee for Asian Women, 1995).
6. See Industry Department, Hong Kong's Manufacturing Industries (Hong Kong: Government Printer, 1994); and Census and Statistics Department, Quarterly Report on General Household Survey: October to December 1994 (Hong Kong: Government Printer, 1994).
7. See Industry Department, Hong Kong's Manufacturing Industries (Hong Kong: Government Printer, 1994); and Census and Statistics Department, Quarterly Report on General Household Survey: October to December 1994 (Hong Kong: Government Printer, 1994).
8. See Wing Suen, "Sectoral Shifts: Impact on Hong Kong Workers," Journal of International Trade and Economic Development 4:2 (July 1995), pp. 135-52, for a more positive assessment of the impact of the restructuring process on workers.
9. Census and Statistics Department, Quarterly Report on General Household Survey: October to December 1995 (Hong Kong: Government Printer, 1996). Female unemployment rate in Hong Kong has been consistently lower than, or at most equal to, that of male workers. In 1986, for example, the male and female unemployment rates were 3% and 2.5%, respectively. See Census and Statistics Department, Annual Digest of Statistics 1990 (Hong Kong: Government Printer, 1991).
10. Census and Statistics Department, Quarterly Report on General Household Survey: October to December 1995 (Hong Kong: Government Printer, 1996). Female unemployment rate in Hong Kong has been consistently lower than, or at most equal to, that of male workers. In 1986, for example, the male and female unemployment rates were 3% and 2.5%, respectively. See Census and Statistics Department, Annual Digest of Statistics 1990 (Hong Kong: Government Printer, 1991).
11. In recent years, the Census and Statistics Department claims to have included those who are without a job but not seeking work because they "believe that work is not available to them." It is unclear, however, how they operationalize this and how much of the unemployment figure it publishes can be accounted for by this reason.
12. Census and Statistics Department, Hong Kong 1991 Population Census: Main Tables (Hong Kong: Government Printing Department, 1992).
13. Census and Statistics Department, Employment and Vacancies Statistics (Industrial Sector), various years. Third-quarter figures are reported because the department gives detailed breakdowns by gender only for third-quarter figures.
14. Stephen Chiu and David Levin, "The World Economy, State, and Sectors in Industrial Change: Labor Relations in Hong Kong's Textile and Garment-Making Industries," in Stephen Frenkel and Jeffrey Harrod, eds., Industrialization and Labor Relations (Ithaca, N.Y.: ILR Press, 1995), pp. 143-75.
15. The telephone poll was conducted by the Social Sciences Research Centre at the University of Hong Kong based on a sampling frame of the entire residential telephone directory of Hong Kong. The success rate was around 60% out of the eligible respondents (those who worked in manufacturing five years ago) contacted. We have in fact conducted another wave of telephone interviews with another 141 women workers, but since including them in statistical analysis would present sampling problems, we have decided to exclude them from the following analyses.
16. This term is borrowed from Richard Sennett and Jonathan Cobb, The Hidden Injuries of Class (New York: Knopf, 1972).
17. While the conflict between women's familial responsibilities and their labor force participation has been a long-standing phenomenon, it was relatively easier for women factory workers to juggle between family and work in the past because of the relative stability in working hours in manufacturing and the proximity of most factory premises to public housing estates. In the past, for example, women workers sometimes went grocery shopping during lunch breaks. Furthermore the relative stability of manufacturing earnings sometimes allowed women workers to pay for baby-sitting (often by neighbors and relatives), which relieved them of some familial responsibilities. Now with a much reduced and unstable income, it is difficult for women to afford baby-sitting or other childcare services.
18. Our questions mainly tap the perception of the women workers themselves, while the official surveys attempt to measure employment status by a combination of objective and subjective indicators. Census and Statistics Department, Quarterly Report on General Household Survey: January to March 1996 (Hong Kong: Government Printer, 1996).
19. For example, the Lai Chi Kok Organization of Workers' Concern for Society surveyed 297 interviewees and reported a 11.4% jobless rate in August 1995. The Hong Kong Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood also showed that 13% of its respondent were unemployed. See Hong Kong Staff, "Hong Kong Worried About Jobs" (September 1995), pp. 3-5.
20. A full-time retrainee receives a monthly allowance of HK$4,000, or about US$516.
21. Apple Daily, 4 March 1996.