Press Releases
Women's Commission welcomes the Policy Address
The following is issued on behalf of the Women's Commission:
The Women's Commission welcomes the Policy Address delivered by the Chief
Executive today (October 11). The Commission will continue to work closely with
the Government to complement its commitment to promoting family and social
harmony, and support the Government's efforts in strengthening families and
rebuilding family values and resilience.
The Chairperson of the Women's Commission, Ms Sophia Kao, said: "Harmonious
families are the foundation of a harmonious society. We are pleased that the
Chief Executive has accorded high priorities this year in strengthening and
supporting family.
"The Commission also supports the Government's initiative to consider setting up
an integrated, holistic and high-level Family Commission responsible for
policies and initiatives relating to family support.
"Family issues cut across different policy area and require central coordination
at a high level. The Commission has been calling on the Government to adopt a
holistic and strategic approach in strengthening and supporting families. We
hope that the new mechanism will be able to take a leading role in setting the
agenda and providing directions in the development of policies, services and
researches in Hong Kong.
"We are also glad that the Chief Executive recognises the importance of quality
parenting and pre-marriage counseling. Over the past two years, the Commission
has dedicated a lot of efforts in the promotion of nurturing caring families,
with an emphasis on quality parenting. We will continue our efforts on this
front," Ms Kao said.
The Commission has conducted a research on the core life values for parenting
education for instilling in the younger generation. It is now planning a pilot
project in a district to promote quality parenting education and the core life
values.
"We also welcome the Government's initiative to provide additional resources to
assist family in need and upgrade the quality of pre-school education. This will
certainly help ease the financial burden of parents, particularly of the
lower-income families, and enhance the quality of our next generation.
"The Commission is most pleased to see the Chief Executive's positive response
to its call for creating a family-friendly environment to foster work-family
balance and family solidarity. We have earlier announced the results of a
research on family-friendly employment policies and practices conducted jointly
with the Equal Opportunities Commission. We are now developing the strategies
and measures to promote wider adoption of such practices. We will spare no
efforts in complementing the Government's work toward this end.
"We are most encouraged that the Government has responded swiftly and positively
to the Commission's recommendations in its report on 'Women's Safety in Hong
Kong: Eliminating Domestic Violence' ". We welcome the Government's further
efforts in strengthening support and protection for victims of domestic
violence, and will continue to provide advice and support to the Government in
implementing the multi-disciplinary strategy in tackling domestic violence.
"As the Chief Executive has mentioned, building a family-friendly and harmonious
society is an undertaking of the whole community and requires the concerted
efforts of all. The Women's Commission is committed to continuously working
closely with the Government, and collaborating with different sectors of the
community to nurture a culture of mutual help and respect, and promote gender
equality," Ms Kao concluded.
Ends/Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Issued at HKT 20:23
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