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Furthermore, Mr Suen said the bill applied to both men and women. It can therefore, be seen that the bill is definitely not made just for the benefit of women but for upholding equality between both sexes.
On sex discrimination, the bill addresses the problems of both direct discrimination on the ground of sex and indirect discrimination without any valid grounds. For instance, for a man and a woman with the same qualifications and holding the same position doing the same jobs in the same establishment, if the man is paid better, then it is direct discrimination on the part of the employer.
Indirect discrimination without any valid grounds is also unlawful, he said.
"For example, for the position of teller in a bank, if the bank requires that the applicants should be at least six feet tall, without explaining why this height requirement is necessary, then it is indirect discrimination because this requirement may prevent many women applicants from becoming eligible for this position."
Regarding sexual harassment, the bill defines the following as sexual harassment behaviours, they are: making sexual advance, request for sexual favours or engaging in unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature; and in any of the above circumstances, a reasonable person would be offended, humiliated or intimidated.
Mr Suen said in view of the wide-ranging scope covered by sex discrimination and sexual harassment, the emphasis on matters of principle in the definitions of these two terms, and given the fact that this is the first time that legislation against discrimination is being enacted in Hong Kong, the Government found it necessary to establish an independent mechanism to monitor the implementation of the legislation so that the public would not break the law inadvertently.
The Equal Opportunities Commission (the Commission), which is an independent statutory body, is responsible for working towards the elimination of sex discrimination and sexual harassment, promoting equality of opportunities between men and women, and investigating any act alleged to be unlawful by virtue of the bill and endeavouring, by conciliation, to effect a settlement of the matter in dispute.
"We propose that members of the Commission will comprise people drawn from various sections of the community including employers, employees," professionals and those people who have knowledge of and are interested in promoting equality of opportunities between the two sexes," he said.
Besides carrying out public education programmes and conducting researches into gender-related issues and investigating complaints, another important function of the Commission is to play a conciliation role in settling disputes.
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