TNAG-0992-FCO40-1211-Policy-on-salaries-and-pensions-for-civil-service-in-Hong-Ko-1980 — Page 211

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staff are entitled to medical and dental treatment for themselves and paid maternity leave. Medical treatment is provided for babies born in government hospitals up to the age of six months. Married female staff may also be provided with leave passages for themselves if these are not provided by the husband's employer. All other benefits are assumed to be provided by the husband, whether employed by Government or not.

Representations

8.5

The Association of Senior Female Government Officers has provided us with detailed representations, and their case is supported by the Staff Side of the Senior Civil Service Council. We have also had the opportunity to hear the views of the Government Doctors' Association and the Nurses Unit of the Hong Kong Chinese Civil Servants' Association.

8.

6

The main point made in the representations is that the Government's stated policy of equal pay for equal work should be extended to include a married woman's eligibility for fringe benefits, because

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

hardship is caused by the application of the present policy in that, even though husbands may for reasons of ill health or unemployment be unable to provide benefits, a married female government servant remains ineligible to receive them from Government;

changes in the traditional community view of the respective roles of husband and wife are taking place, with husbands no longer automatically assumed to be the head of the household;

working married women make a significant and increasing economic and social contribution; and

Government should take the lead in the provision of benefits for married women rather than reflect private sector practice.

Government Policy

8. 7

The arrangements described briefly in paras 8.3 and 8.4 above reflect the Government's current policy in this matter. However in January 1980 the Secretary for the Civil Service, in answering a question in the Legislative Council, said:

"Married women officers do not, as a general rule, receive the same fringe benefits as their male counterparts because it has been the Government's policy to adhere to the generally accepted community view in these matters, namely that the husband should be the provider.