National Security Job Creation

The second National Security Education Day was last week

Did you learn anything from last week's National Security Education Day on April 15?

Aside from stickers on the backs of bus seats advertising it as well as giant billboards across Hong Kong, there wasn't specifically anything new to learn unless you went onto the website to take a look.

Two former law enforcement chiefs don't think people know enough about national education and are proposing a position in the upcoming administration to promote it further.

People were encouraged to go on the website

Former security chief Lai Tung-kwok is calling for a new post of "national security education commissioner", as the public don't know enough about the issue, and that the annual National Security Education Day is far from sufficient.

During a radio program on RTHK, he said the city needs to work harder to educate people about national security, as it encompasses everything from finance to food.

So how does national security affect food, unless he is referring to ecological security, which is about ecological damage and environmental pollution?

Lai, who is also a New People's Party legislator, said if people had a better understanding of national security, it would be easier to get them to make sacrifices to ensure it is upheld.

Tang (left) and Lai want a NSL commissioner 

With rights and freedoms further eroding because of national security, not many would agree to make sacrifices -- they have no choice really and have to accept that almost everything is for national security reasons.

Meanwhile, former police commissioner Tang King-shing said the public have misunderstood what national security is all about, adding that an ageing population and gender equality issues could also undermine safety and stability.

These two enjoy stirring more fear into the pot with reasons that have zero logic.

How does having an increasingly elderly population and the fight for gender equality undermine safety and stability?

Lai and Tang both seem keen on being this "national security commissioner", if the new Chief Executive decides to create the post.

How do these elderly impact national security?

There is talk that sole candidate John Lee Ka-chiu is looking to expand his administration, and perhaps one of them will be national security education, considering security seems to be a top priority.

A quick scan of the National Security Education website does not mention the elderly or gender equality issues either, so maybe Lai and Tang should study the website first before making these ominous proclamations that are hardly credible?

Women Surpass Men in Buying Suits

This show resonates with Chinese women who encounter gender bias daily

Women in China are snapping up more suits than men these days, thanks to a popular streaming TV series called All Is Well (都挺好 dou1 ting3 hao3).

It's about a typical traditional Chinese middle-class family that values sons over daughters. The protagonist, Su Mingyu 苏明玉 (played by Yao Chen) stands up to the gender bias in her own family by dressing in suits in every episode to show off her fierce independence.



The character Su Mingyu has struck a chord with Chinese women, who are following her sartorial sense on social media, sparking a national shopping trend for fashionable suits.

Since the show started in March, she has worn things like a Burberry suit, Max Mara coat, Erdos cashmere sweater and Stuart Weitzman boots. Su Mingyu definitely has expensive taste, but seems like she can afford it.

Su Mingyu wears stylish clothes that reflect success

She projects the ideal look of success that most Chinese women aspire to -- luxury suit-wearing, financially independent, and mentally strong despite going through gender discrimination all her life.

This coincides with the 2019 China Fashion Data Report issued by Alibaba, where the word "suits" was the most searched keyword on Taobao last year for women; the sales volume of women's suits surpassed that of men for the first time on January 27, 2019.

The search for "大哥廓西" literally meaning "big bro, shoulder-padded suit" in Chinese, grew 317 percent year-on-year, with sales up 39 percent.

And with All Is Well inspiring women to consider dressing in suits, perhaps the power suit will translate to even more sales than men's suits this year.

Women are keen to emulate Su Mingyu's fashion sense

Perhaps this is a sartorial way for women to achieve gender equality in China?

Chinese Women Buying Security

Successful women own property for security and also status in the family

The obsession to buy a home in China continues, but we're happy to discover that more Chinese women are realizing this dream.

Despite having to deal with the gender pay gap of earning on average 16 percent less than men, Chinese women have found ways to buy homes under their own name. Last year 46.7 percent of all homeowners were women in 2018, which compares to only 5 percent just two years earlier.

Over 47 percent of women over 30 bought their own homes

These numbers came from a report by real-estate broker platform Beike Zhaofang 贝壳找房, which surveyed thousands of women aged 18-50 in 12 cities, including Beijing, Shanghai and Wuhan. 

For single women over 30 years of age, 47.1 percent of them bought their own homes. More than one-third managed to buy their property without a loan, and 23.4 percent own more than two properties.

Either these women got a lot of help from their parents, relatives and friends, or they have high-powered jobs, or even really generous sugar daddies giving them lots of cash...

Media outlet Southern Weekly tried to find out why this phenomenon was happening and most women they interviewed cited "a sense of security" as the main reason for buying their home(s).

Wives usually do not have their names on the deeds

For successful women in high-paying jobs, home ownership is a statement of independence. Southern Weekly interviewed a female senior manager at a finance firm who owns three properties, which resulted in her having an elevated status in the family, making her even more confident as a woman.

Also as most families only have one child, the parents are more supportive in helping out their daughters in buying a home, or will even outright buy real estate for them. In addition, parents from older generations see buying a home as a safe investment that will give the daughters security when they retire.

Many women have parents helping them buy homes

The jump in female home ownership is also a result of high divorce rates. Typically when women get married, the husband has already bought a home and the woman's side is expected to contribute caili or betrothal gifts in the form of cash or gifts, such as furniture or cars.

And so in the event of a divorce, the wife is left with nothing, because her name is not on the deed.

But with 46.7 percent of home buyers now being women, they are actively protecting themselves (and their parents) from financial ruin. It's another big step in forcing Chinese men to confront the reality that yes, women do hold up half the sky -- for themselves.

Picture of the Day: Fearless Girl

The defiance of Fearless Girl stares down Charging Bull

Today we went downtown to the financial district to look at the latest artistic addition to the area.

Charging Bull has been there for many years, signifying Wall Street with its, well, bullish attitude towards the markets.

It's a favourite statue for many tourists to take pictures of, particularly mainland Chinese, who see the bull at the epitome of American capitalism and the hopes of rubbing its nose will bring them good luck.

Charging Bull is a favourite with tourists visiting Wall Street

But in March, just before International Women's Day, the statue of a little girl was deliberately placed in front of the bull by State Street Global Advisors, an investment-service company to make a statement about gender diversity and to send a message to finance companies to increase the number of women on their corporate boards.

The 4-ft statue is a fantastic counterpoint to the masculine animal, but for Arturo di Modica, the Italian artist behind Charging Bull, he feels the meaning behind his piece has changed because of Fearless Girl and wants to sue State Street for not conferring with him earlier.

He felt the new addition changed his piece from having a meaning of "strength" and "power" to being a threat.

Maybe we are biased, but we love Fearless Girl. We need more of them to change people's perceptions of women and maybe finally have equity pay as well as equal treatment, and standing in front of a charging bull is a strong, determined start.

Women's Day Rant

Olympic swimmer Stephanie Au campaigns to stop the term "career line"

While it's International Women's Day, it is patronizing to have one day to recognize women today. Even more so are the businesses in Hong Kong that are trying to commercialize the day with special offers for meals and drinks...

The Women's Foundation in Hong Kong has conducted a survey of 1,000 women and found 62 percent discriminated against for their looks, while one-quarter of men aged 31 to 49 believe a women's success is based on her appearance.

Images like these only create expectations of beauty in women

In addition, more than 40 percent of women surveyed thought the Cantonese term "career line", which equates a woman's cleavage to her career progression, was offensive -- I should hope so! However, about 20 percent of men aged under 30 thought it was positive -- and that's scary.

Almost 18 percent of respondents had heard the term "career line" in a professional conversation.

Olympic swimmer Stephanie Au Hoi-shun has been described as "Oriental Venus" by the Chinese media, and that is so wrong on so many levels.

A lot of these perceptions of women are shaped by the media people are exposed to on a daily basis. We are constantly bombarded by images of impossibly tall, beautiful women in advertisements who have probably been photoshopped, and yet men believe these women really exist and belong on their arms.

Women can play hard just like the men, right?

I once spoke to a woman who runs a dating agency in Hong Kong and Singapore and she said men in the former city are unrealistic because they will go on a first date with a woman and then tell the agency to find them an even better looking woman. Whatever happened to what's inside?

And that is probably where men think it's fine to objectify women and that the only way to explain a woman's success is by her so-called "career line".

These attitudes are pathetic and need to change if Hong Kong wants to be considered a progressive society. Women don't even get paid the same amount as men for starters. And then we have women working as domestic helpers...

It's high time for men to consider women as equals. Today should be a day of education and awareness of how much women contribute to our families, communities, and businesses. How the media uses language to describe women also needs to change, and everyone needs to be educated on the reality of advertising, how the images we see everyday are not real at all, but a fantasy.

Stroking for Parity

The pool is only 20 metres long, but it can go fast... if no one's blocking you!

There's been a lot of talk in the media about sexual harassment, in light of Fox News' Roger Ailes, which also leads to talk about gender disparity, how women are paid less than men even though they are doing the same job. But if a woman speaks up about wanting more pay or a promotion, she is perceived as being a bitch.

When I was in Vancouver over a month ago, a woman in her 60s asked me if there was sexual discrimination in Hong Kong. I said there definitely was, that there is an old boys' club feel and culturally men feel like they should be the dominant ones, while women are supposed to look pretty and be docile.

There aren't that many women leading large companies here, and we have only one senior female government official.

Why does Hong Kong likes to claim it is an international city and yet how its women and men are treated is still so stereotypical?

However I like to think that I change those perceptions when I'm in the swimming pool. While the men at my gym may run faster and lift heavier weights, I can swim faster than most of them in the water.

It's always the same scenario: The man starts swimming in the fast lane, thinking he will have no problem keeping up with me. But he's dead wrong 95 percent of the time.

I always have to pass him to keep at my pace or to avoid being frustrated tailing behind him.

The rudest part is that he doesn't acknowledge this and doesn't yield to me so that I can keep going.

It is always the case and today was no exception.

A very skinny Chinese man watched me swim for a while before donning his swimming cap and got into the water. I very easily passed him a few times before he got out and I thought that was the end of that.

Instead he sat on a lounge chair and watched me swim several more lengths before he decided to take another stab at swimming again (thinking I was tired). Again I had to pass him a few more times -- at one point my fingers touched his toes because he was slower than I anticipated.

But did he think to yield to me on the way back? Nope. He continued freestyle, while I was forced to swim breast stroke because there were other swimmers in the lane.

He got back out of the pool again, watched as I continued lap after lap and then he went back in a third time.

Again I passed him until he decided to rest in the pool for a bit until I finally finished my laps. Did he think the last one in the pool was the winner?

A few weeks ago two middle-aged women saw me tearing up the pool and were thrilled to see a woman swimming so fast. They wondered if I had competed before and I said no, but I'd been swimming for many years, and enjoyed it.

Perhaps they appreciated seeing someone showing up the men for once...