International Women’s Day is celebrated around the world on March 8.

In mainland China, the government advises employers to give women half a day off work, and e-commerce platforms promote “Goddesses’ Day” or “Queens’ Day” sales. Women in Italy traditionally receive bouquets of yellow mimosa flowers – symbolising strength and solidarity – from loved ones. In the US, a presidential proclamation about gender equality is issued ahead of March every year, designated Women’s History Month in the country.

But beyond flowers, proclamations and holidays, International Women’s Day is about the continued fight for gender equality – a goal that arguably no country can claim to have completely achieved so far.

Gender equality is complicated to measure because discrimination against women and girls takes many different forms depending on specific cultural contexts. But in the workforce, some areas that are discussed globally include labour participation, parental leave policies, fair pay and protections against harassment.

Here’s how Hong Kong, mainland China, Singapore and other places measure up in these areas.

Workforce participation

In many cultures, women are still the primary caretakers in families and bear most of the burden when it comes to household chores and childcare. Hence, around the world the proportion of women holding down paid jobs is lower than for men.

Excluding foreign domestic workers, women in Hong Kong had a lower labour force participation rate than men in 2020 – 49.6 per cent compared with 66.2 per cent, according to the city’s Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC).

In mainland China, the labour force participation rate of women was 61 per cent compared to 74.5 per cent among men in 2020, according to International Labour Organization estimates.

In Singapore, 64.2 per cent of women were active in the workforce as of December 2021, compared to 77.2 per cent of men, data from the Singapore Department of Statistics shows.

Women still bear most of the burden for childcare and household chores in many cultures.

In the US, the labour force participation rate of women was 75.8 per cent in January this year, compared with 88.8 per cent for men, according to the Bureau of Labour Statistics’ monthly data.

And in Australia, the labour force participation rate of women was 61.5 per cent compared with 70.4 per cent for men in January 2022, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

It bears noting that there may be significant differences in the workforce participation rate of women depending on whether they are married.

In Hong Kong, the rate for never-married women was 69.5 per cent compared with 48.4 per cent for those who had been married in 2020, reflecting a trend of women exiting the labour market temporarily or permanently after marriage, according to the EOC.

Parental leave policies

Last year, a dozen regional governments in China lengthened their maternity leave allowances – Beijing, for instance, added 60 days, bringing the total to 158. Paternity leave in the capital city, however, remained at 15.

But critics said longer maternity leave could reinforce stereotypes of women being the main parent responsible for childcare, and may cause companies to discriminate against them.

In Hong Kong, women can take 14 weeks of maternity leave, while men have only five days of paternity leave.

Singapore has a shared parental leave programme which allows men to apply for up to four weeks of their wives’ 16 weeks of government-paid maternity leave if both parties agree. Otherwise, working fathers get two weeks of paternity leave.

Australia, meanwhile, allows parents of any gender who are the primary carer of a newborn or newly adopted child to claim up to 18 weeks of paid parental leave at the national minimal wage.

An anomaly among developed countries, the US does not have any government-mandated paid parental leave, instead stipulating up to 12 weeks of unpaid “family and medical leave” each year, where employees’ jobs are protected.

Fair pay

Under the Sex Discrimination Ordinance in Hong Kong, it is unlawful to discriminate based on sex in employment terms and conditions.

However, the gender pay gap still exists. In 2020, the median monthly earnings of employed women was HK$15,000 (US$1,920) while it was HK$20,000 for men – one-third more, according to a 2021 report by the city’s Census and Statistics Department. The reported noted that a larger proportion of men worked as managers and administrators, professionals and associate professionals, which were professions with higher average earnings.

Many places around the world similarly have provisions in the law requiring equal pay for equal work, but the reality is another matter.

In mainland China, the average wage for urban men was 22.5 per cent higher than for women in 2019, according to a report by recruitment site Zhipin.com.

Singapore’s gap has narrowed over time but still exists, with the Ministry of Manpower saying in 2020 that the adjusted gender pay gap in 2018 was 6 per cent.

Data from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) showed that in 2020, the gender pay gaps for Australia and the US were 12.27 per cent and 17.65 per cent, respectively.

Many places have provisions in the law requiring equal pay for equal work, but the reality is another matter.

Sexual harassment

Hong Kong’s Sex Discrimination Ordinance states that discrimination or sexual harassment in employment is unlawful, and employers may be held vicariously liable whether or not they know about or agree with their employees’ acts of sexual harassment during their employment.

EOC chair Ricky Chu Man-kin, however, said last year that there were still loopholes in the law that did not cover some forms of harassment in common social settings.

In the US, employers that allow anyone to be sexually harassed at work by anyone else are held responsible under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and harassers have committed an illegal act when the harassment “is so frequent or severe that it creates a hostile or offensive work environment or when it results in an adverse employment decision”, according to the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

In Australia, employers are obliged under the Fair Work Act to manage the health and safety risks of workplace sexual harassment – defined as an unwelcome sexual advance, an unwelcome request for sexual favours or any other unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature in relation to another person.

Sexual harassment and stalking are criminal offences in Singapore under the Protection from Harassment Act, although this does not have provisions specific to workplace harassment and employers are not legally obliged to take action against them.

In mainland China, tech hub Shenzhen released unprecedented regulations in March last year clearly defining what constitutes sexual harassment, amid growing calls for change. Draft revisions to the nationwide women’s rights law also require schools and companies to set up a mechanism to prevent and punish sexual harassment against women. However, #MeToo and labour activists continue to face crackdowns including censorship and arrests.