於2006年在統計處的「一九九六年至二零零六年綜合社會保障援助計劃的統計數字」(註一)內，有三萬八千多個個案為單親綜援。在單親綜援個案中，有83.3%的家長都是女性，而當中超過一半都是因離婚或分居而成為單親。可見大多數單親家庭，都要由婦女去承擔照顧子女的責任而無法工作。

得到社會基本保障，本來應該是人人平等的。但這些需要申請綜援的單親婦女，卻因為需要投放時間去照顧子女，無法找工作，因為現時大多數基層工作都是工資低工時長的。而她們拿取綜援卻被標籤為社會上的「寄生蟲」，無法得到基本的尊重。有見及此，一群基層單親婦女在仁愛堂彩虹社區發展中 心(屯門)的社工組織下，於2002年成立，並於2005年正式獨立註冊成為「婦女貧窮關注會」，關注婦女權益和綜援政策，將最貼身的政策問題反映及給予建議，同時也促進社會人士對貧窮婦女的認識及肯定她們的貢獻。

由於會員都是家庭主婦，或只在屯門區內工作，又沒有接受任何訓練，要成為組織者談何容易？故此婦女動力基金於2007年度批出撥款，給予十多位核心成員進行「彩虹同行」計劃訓練，讓她們學懂不少法律常識、策劃婦女權益活動技巧及解答電話諮詢的技巧。



     

「我在兩年前收到一個『關綜聯』(關注綜援檢討聯盟)的電話，是做問卷調查的。之後就叫我去參加城大(香港城市大學)的活動，因我可以識多一點有關綜援的資料，所以便去參加。去完之後，有人介紹我識慧玲。慧玲叫我來參加，我便開始出席會議及活動，多點了解這個會是關注政策的。」說話頭頭是道的 Grace，現有三名分別是11歲、16歲及22歲的子女，在離婚前、後，一直都是家庭主婦。「兩年前，在了解關注會初期，聽到社署新的欣曉計劃，說要那些子女已到六歲以上的便去工作，因為十分埋身，便在沒有學習之下，便走去立法會發言，告訴局長沒可能把六歲的小朋友留在家中的。就是因為這次爭取，表達自己的意見後，發現我們原來都可以直接表達，所以在關注會重整後便正式參與。」的確在訓練後，同時也因天水圍的事件，讓這一班婦女的聲音都被重視起來。她們在過往兩、三個月，不停地見局長、立法會議員、請願等等，都令她們發現原來窮都可以出聲、原來窮也應該被受尊重。

　

「香港有一半人口為女性，我們其實很有影響力的。我們都不想做無知婦人，學懂知識後，能好好地與子女傾談，給予他們正面教育。透過我們的經歷去教子女要對社會有貢獻。我們其實來這裡參與都是做義工，去糾正政策。」Grace在參與會務及學習後，更正面去看自己的能力。
　

跟Grace一樣，收到『關綜聯』電話的阿珍，不但背著貧窮的歧視，更背著新移民的標籤。「我與丈夫結婚多年，好多同鄉都問我點解不來香港，我說在內地有份穩定的工作，幹麼要來香港呢？」及後阿珍與丈夫生了小孩，可惜他的腳因病而變得行動不便。「兒子在東莞都是讀正常學校，所以沒有任何支援，便把兒子送到香港跟丈夫住，入讀特殊學校。」一切以為順順利利，突然阿珍的丈夫心臟病發死亡。「我真的沒想過，丈夫生前年年做身體檢查都無事。本來想帶兒子返東莞，但因沒有戶籍，學費十分昂貴，我便被迫來香港照顧兒子。」

她在香港初期十分徬徨，無親無戚，要申請綜援及處理丈夫離世的事，要多次碰壁才能處理。看到她能面帶笑容的去道出她的故事，以為她是能積極的去看，卻原來是因一次經歷，讓她不願在人前流淚。「有次去見社署保障部的職員，他問起了我兒子及丈夫的事，我說著便忍不住哭了起來，他居然說你丈夫都死了幾年，還哭來幹麼，我那時真的很傷心，覺得點解香港人會這樣子的呢？從那次起，我便決定不再在人前哭。」由於她們有不少在申請綜援所遇到的困難的經驗，故此也希望後來者不用害怕，「希望自己的經驗，可以令更多同行姐妹不用行冤枉路。」所以阿珍現時在兒子上學的時間，去關注綜援檢討聯盟的熱線組協助接聽熱線外，更成為婦女貧窮關注會的幹事，把所學的都與其他有需要的人分享。

其實除了會務及爭取權益外，令她們留下來的，更因為大家都是同路人，可以有傾有講，又不會互相歧視。

　

照顧子女，本來應該男女一同分擔。所以在需要糾正「男主外、女主內」的思想的同時，我們的社會也應該關切地為現實中主力照顧家庭的婦女作出更適切的安排。
　

資料來源︰

註一︰政府統計處，《一九九六年至二零零六年綜合社會保障援助計劃的統計數字》。

According to the "Statistics on Comprehensive Social Security Assistance Scheme, 1996 - 2006" Report (Note 1) published by the Census and Statistics Department in 2006, there are 38,000 CSSA cases classified under the single-parent category. In those cases, 83.3% of the parents were female and over half became single due to divorce or separation. From these figures, one can conclude that in most single-parent households, women are not able to work as they must take on the responsibility of caring for their children.

Everyone has an equal right to be entitled to basic social protection. However, welfare recipients are labeled as "parasite" and thus are unable to receive basic respect from society. Those female single parents, who need to apply for welfare, also want to look for a job instead of getting welfare. Nevertheless, most entry-level jobs are low paying and have long working hours. It would be very difficult for them to take up jobs since they need to spend time taking care of their children. In actual fact, they have contributed to society as home carers and their unpaid labour should be recognized by society. In view of this, under the assistance of social workers from the Yan Oi Tong Rainbow Community Development Centre (Tuen Mun), a group of grass-roots level single mothers set up the Women Poverty Concern Group in 2002, which was subsequently registered as an independent organization in 2005. Their aim was to raise awareness on women's rights and welfare policies, provide recommendations on policies that concerned them, while improving public awareness about women in poverty and recognizing their contributions.

Most members of the organization are either homemakers or low income women workers who work in Tuen Mun. Since they have no training, it was not as simple as it sounded to become volunteer organizers. As a result,HER Fund chose to grant funds to the Group in 2007, giving ten core members of the organization the opportunity to receive training in the "Walk Under the Rainbow Campaign", allowing them to pick up legal knowledge, as well as learning how to organize women's rights activities and provide telephone advisory service.

"I received a call from the CSSA Review Alliance about two years ago when they were conducting a survey. Then I participated in a event they organized and eventually I could learn more about the CSSA. After that, somebody introduced me to Wei Ling. She encouraged me to participate in more activities, so I began to take part in meetings and events of the Group, and began to understand that this Group is concerned about government policies related to social security," says Grace confidently. She is a mother of 3 children aged 11, 16 and 22. "Two years ago, when I just began to learn about the Concern Group, I heard about the Social Welfare Department's new policy, which stated that recipients of CSSA must go to work after their children have reached the age of six. Because this issue was really pressing to me, without any prior training, I went to the Legislative Council to express my concerns. I told them that there was no way anyone could leave a six-year-old child at home alone. After voicing my opinion that time and realizing that we have the power to express our concerns directly, I decided to join the Women Poverty Concern Group after its re-organization." As a matter of fact, after being trained as well as due to the incidents in Tin Shui Wai, the voices of this group of women have been heard. Over the past two to three months, they have often been meeting with the Department Secretary and Legislative Councilors, petitioning, etc. This made them realize that even though they are poor, they could still have a voice and they should still be respected.

"Half of Hong Kong's population is women; we could actually be quite influential. We don't want to be ignorant housewives; we want to learn and be able to communicate with our children effectively. We also want to pass our knowledge on to our children, educating them in a positive way. Through our personal experiences, we want to teach our children to contribute to society. Actually, we are here as voluntary workers to try to improve government policies." After Grace participated in the activities of the Group and picked up more knowledge, she began to look at her self in a more positive way.

Jen, who also received a call from the CSSA Review Alliance, was discriminated against because of her poor socio-economic status and also labeled negatively as a new immigrant. "My husband and I had been married for many years. Despite queries from the folks in my village, I had always refused to move to Hong Kong, since I had a stable job in China." Later, Jen and her husband had a baby, but unfortunately, the boy could not walk properly as a result of an illness. "In Dong Guan, my son went to a normal school without any support for his disability. I decided to send him to live with his father in Hong Kong so he could attend a special school." Everything was going well until Jen's husband died of a sudden heart attack. "I never thought this would happen, as my husband had a medical checkup every year and there were never any problems. I wanted to bring my son back to Dong Guan at first but without a proper China resident ID, school fees would be extremely expensive. As a result, I was forced to stay in Hong Kong to take care of my son."

Her early experience in Hong Kong is best described as lost, as she didn't have any friends or relatives. She had encountered a lot of difficulties and obstacles when applying for social security and handling the issues related to her husband's death. Seeing her smile as she tells her story, one would think she could handle her experiences positively; however, it was an incident of the past that made her resist to cry in front of others. "Once, when I was meeting with a Social Security Department officer, I couldn't help but burst into tears when I was asked about my son and my husband. But the officer was so heartless and asked why I was still crying since my husband had been dead for a few years already. I felt very sad at the time; I couldn't understand how Hong Kong people could be so cold. From then on, I decided not to cry in front of others." Because these women have encountered difficulties when applying for social security, they hope through their efforts, others will not be scared by the red tape in the future. "I hope my own experience can help prevent other women from going down the wrong road when applying for social security." Nowadays, besides answering calls as a volunteer in the hotline team of the CSSA Review Alliance, Jen is also an executive committee member of the Women Poverty Concern Group. She is teaching what she has learned to those in need.

Besides helping the daily operational activities of the Women Poverty Concern Group and campaign work for women's rights, these women choose to stay with the Group because they come from similar backgrounds and thus can support each other without any discrimination.

Taking care of children should be a shared responsibility between men and women. So while we try to challenge the traditional thinking that "men's role is outside the house, women's role is inside the house", the society should also create more space and opportunities for women who are home carers to develop and to grow with respect and dignity.

Source of Information:

Note 1: "Statistics on Comprehensive Social Security Assistance Scheme, 1996 - 2006", Census and Statistics Department.

我們在日常生活中，總會把性(Sex)與性別(Gender)混為一談，然後替男、女建立一套既有的觀念。從今期通訊開始，我們會一連十期道出十大謬誤。
　

謬誤一︰「電鑽，要男人先識用喎﹗」

在過往的年代，女生都被定形為較溫柔、嬌滴滴，而粗重工作如搬運、家裡的小裝修，都會由男性去做，可表現出他們「好man」、剛強的一面。在「男尊女卑」的社會觀念薰陶數千年下，香港在現今的社會內，仍有不少人覺得粗重工作是女生不能做的，只有男生才做到。
　

其實很多男生根本不喜歡，也不懂做粗重工作，只因為他們都是社會被定形的一群，令他們硬著頭皮要去做。反過來，不少女生天生氣力不少，做搬運工作、用電鑽均不是困難的事情。
　

我們應該先放下男或女，看看究竟自己或對方有沒有這樣的能力、興趣、體力去各展所長，而非盲目只看對方是男或女便作出判斷。
　

In our daily lives, we tend to mix up "sex" and "gender" and stick to stereotypical views on men and women. In the next ten issues of the newsletters, starting from this issue, we will have a mini-expose on The Ten Common Myths on Gender.

Myth #1: "Only men know how to use electrical drills!"

In previous eras, women were conceived to be gentle and delicate; as a result, heavy-duty jobs such as moving objects and minor household renovations were always performed by men in order to show their masculinity. Even in a modern society such as Hong Kong, the traditional concept of male superiority still prevails. Many still believe that such [heavy-duty] jobs should only be done by men instead of by women.

In reality, not all men like to perform such duties; it is only because of society's expectations that they are expected to conform and acquiesce to such demands. On the other hand, there are women who are physically capable of moving heavy objects and using electrical drills etc.

We should rethink this gender stereotyping and simply look at whether we have the ability, interest and physical fitness to shoulder these responsibilities, rather than making judgments based on whether one is male or female.
　

為籌募善款作年度撥款工作，婦女動力基金每年三月均會舉行大型籌款活動「活力88為三八」。2007年3月我們舉辦了踢拳活動，喚起大眾對家庭暴力的關注；2008年我們將會舉辦二人三足慈善行，活動主題是兩性平等。究竟二人三足與兩性平等有什麼關係呢？我們深信，推動兩性平等是需要社會上男與女的共同努力及合作，缺一不可；正如二人三足一樣，玩者必須齊心協力，向同一目標前進才能成功，在過程中亦要彼此關心和體諒。雖然男女平等的情況在近年已經有一些改善，可是性別問題仍然存在。我們誠邀您與您的親友參與這個既有趣又富有意義的活動：

To raise funds for the coming year's grant allocation to various projects, HER Fund organizes a major fundraising activity ("88 Days Campaign") in March each year. In March 2007, we held a kickboxing event to raise public awareness of domestic violence. In 2008 we will hold a charity three-legged walk, with the aim of promoting gender equality. But what does a three-legged walk have to do with gender equality?

We strongly believe that promoting gender equality requires men and women to work together and cooperate with each other as both sexes are vital to the society; this principle applies to a three-legged walk, as players must cooperate, care for each other, be flexible and have a common goal in order to succeed. Although there are small steps of advancement on the issue of gender equality in recent years, efforts to create more positive changes is needed. We cordially invite you and your family and friends to participate in this interesting and meaningful activity:

婦女動力基金有幸成為「皇室堡最潮聖誕樹展覽 • 名人設計T-shirt 慈善競投活動」的受惠機構，同時於皇室堡進行聖誕慈善義賣。得到皇室堡各職員、華泰印刷公司、各捐助者及義工的大力協助下，終於完滿結束。
　

十六件由林峰､劉心悠､裕美､董敏莉､莊思敏及德國藝術家Andy Maluche等著名藝人及藝術家設計的聖誕樹Designers' Tee，在皇室堡展出及讓公眾競投，善款全數撥歸婦女動力基金。
　

除此之外，我們也於皇室堡進行慈善義賣，十天的義賣扣除成本共籌得港幣 $14,598。熱心的義工協助售賣由本地婦女製造的天然環保肥皂和美麗的聖誕杯。您所購買的每份禮物，不但用作2008年資助婦女工作項目上，更代表您對本地婦女的支持及鼓勵。同時在義賣中，感謝華泰印刷公司贊助設計及印刷精美的宣傳展板及橫額，讓更多市民認識我們。

HER Fund was honoured to be the beneficiary of the "Windsor House Futurist Christmas Tree Extravaganza – Designers' Tee Charity Auction"; a Christmas charity sale was also conducted there at the same time. Thanks to the hard work of the Windsor House staff, Vita Printing Co., our donors and our very own volunteers, the event was conducted successfully.

16 unique designers' t-shirts designed by local pop stars Raymond Lam, Annie Liu, Wada Hiromi, Monie Tung, Jacqueline Chong and German designer Andy Maluche were up for bids. All proceeds went to HER Fund.

In addition, HER Fund organized charity sales at Windsor House. Environmentally-friendly natural soaps produced by local women, and pretty Christmas Mug were for sale. We raised totally HKD14,598 (net profit) in ten days. Each piece of gift you bought not only raised money for 2008 grant-making to women's projects HER Fund, but also represented your support of local women's work. Meanwhile special thanks to Vita Printing Co. who sponsored the design and printing of the exhibition board and banner which aroused the crowd to know us.

第四輪撥款簡介會已於十一月五日(星期一)順利舉行。當日人頭湧湧，有來自於四十多個機構共超過五十名同工參與。簡介會的開始也同時標誌著撥款申請的開始，在此再次提醒各有意申請的同工，下年度的撥款申請截止日為二零零八年一月十五日。

The Briefing Session for the fourth grant cycle was successfully held on Monday, November 5. There was a huge turnout for the event; as it was attended by over 50 colleagues from over 40 different NGOs. The briefing session also marked the beginning of the application for the fourth grant cycle; we would like to remind colleagues that the application deadline is January 15, 2008.