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Catherine Gurtin

The relationship between motherhood and work is one of the trickiest balancing acts there is for a woman. Entrenched gender stereotypes place an unfair burden on working mums.
At work, employers may be biased against female employees who are mothers, while at home, women are often expected to shoulder most of the childcare, care for the elderly and household duties.
The Covid-19 pandemic has seen many working mums, including myself and other members of the PathFinders team, struggle to balance the demands of work, childcare and home-based learning.
It is so disheartening to read headlines across the world about the number of mums leaving the workforce due to the pressure of trying to be just as productive at work, while ensuring children are doing school work.

Given limited care options for children in Hong Kong, many working mums have relied heavily on the support of migrant domestic workers, especially during the pandemic, to be able to remain employed and better balance work and family life. The same reliance is true for working daughters, many of whom hire migrant domestic workers to help care for elderly parents.
Many of these domestic helpers are working mums too, who have been unable to return home during the pandemic to see their children. For many, the pandemic has also created an even greater financial burden and increased the need to send home more remittances to support their extended family.
Globally, declining fertility rates and rapidly ageing populations mean many countries face increasing concerns about the financial implications of demographic changes. Yet, as a culture, we are doing very little to encourage and support working mums to succeed as the caring provider for their children, whether they are in Hong Kong or overseas.
Hong Kong’s young mums want jobs, but opportunities few and far between
Locally, the Equal Opportunities Commission revealed in a 2016 report that one in five women in Hong Kong have experienced workplace discrimination during pregnancy, maternity leave or in the first year after giving birth.
For migrant domestic worker mums, a public opinion survey conducted by PathFinders has found that pregnancy is often considered even more “unacceptable” by an employer due to the perceived inconvenience it would cause them, at times resulting in the loss of employment.
When this happens, the migrant domestic worker immediately becomes homeless and within two weeks, when her working visa expires, she loses access to public services, including health care vital for prenatal screening and newborn care.
For those unable to return home, their children are typically undocumented, stateless and lack access to essential services including health care, shelter and education.

For true and lasting change to happen, people must change their attitudes. It is not enough to protect all working mums, we should celebrate them.
Migrant domestic worker mums should also be celebrated, as the number of migrant domestic workers in Hong Kong is forecast to increase from 370,000 today to 600,000 by 2047 to help care for our rapidly ageing population.
Employers should allow greater flexibility for working mums to re-enter the labour market after childbirth. Employers of migrant domestic workers who are mothers should also allow them to play a more active role in the lives of their children back in their home country. For example, breaks can be given between duties for them to connect with their children via video calls.
We believe there is no better time than Mother’s Day to celebrate and honour the extraordinary strength and resilience of all working mums in Hong Kong – especially the many migrant domestic worker mothers who help us by taking care of our children while living thousands of miles away from their own.
Please join us this Mother’s Day in saying an extra special thank you to all the working mums in your life.
Catherine Gurtin is the CEO at PathFinders (www.pathfinders.org.hk), which is celebrating all working mothers in Hong Kong with a #WorkingMomsHK campaign


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To all working mothers, including Hong Kong’s migrant domestic helper mums: thank you

A domestic helper walks with a child in her care in February 2018. Given the limited care options for children in Hong Kong, many families rely on migrant workers to help look after their children at home. Photo: David Wong

Pregnant out-of-work domestic helpers stuck in Hong Kong who can't get a flight to go home to give birth because fights cancelled and quarantine due to Covid-19, in the safe house where they are staying in Hong Kong on September 02, 2020. Identifies obscured to protect the workers. 02SEP20 [FEATURES] SCMP / Xiaomei CHEN

Mother helping her son with his homework after work.

As in China, migrant workers in Southeast Asia are leaving behind a generation of children

Khann Sophea and her daughters in 2018. Photo: Handout

Thach Di Thi Phuong Thuy and Thach Saret talk to their son in a video call. Photo: Sen Nguyen

Khann Sophea with her family in early 2020. Photo: Handout

Filipino domestic helpers line up to send money at a remittance centre in Hong Kong. Photo: AFP

A man counts a wad of Philippine Peso bills he received from a relative working abroad at a money remittance centre in Makati City, Metro Manila, Philippines. Photo: Reuters

Vietnamese female migrant workers looking for jobs on a Hanoi street. Photo: AFP

Discrimination against pregnant women and new mothers in Hong Kong ‘worse than figures show’

The EOC received 1,435 complaints under the Sexual Discrimination Ordinance over the past six years - among them, 602 women complained of pregnancy discrimination. Photo: SCMP

How a Mother’s Day card is driving one of Hong Kong’s richest families into China’s US$572 billion education market

Jennifer Yu Cheng Ngar-wing, group president and deputy vice-chair of CTF Education. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Yu, together with husband Adrian Cheng Chi-kong, the third-generation scion of the family that controls Chow Tai Fook Enterprises and New World Development, are steering  CTF Education into China’s education market. Photo: Tory Ho

Born in a pandemic: a lesson in love, patience and perseverance for a new mother

A Thai nurse puts face shields on newborn babies as a precaution against the coronavirus, at the Princ Hospital Suvarnabhumi in Samut Prakan province, Thailand, on April 8, 2020. Pregnant women have been among the most vulnerable yet under-reported groups during the pandemic. Photo: EPA-EFE

Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, gives a speech during a visit to an NGO in the township of Nyanga, in Cape Town, South Africa, on September 23, 2019. Markle revealed she had suffered a miscarriage in July last year, and wrote about the stigma of miscarriage. Photo: AFP

Opinion

News

Hong Kong


The pandemic has exacerbated pressure on working mums to balance the demands of work and childcare while receiving little society-wide support
The foreign workers who leave their own children behind, to play a key role in supporting local families, deserve our utmost respect



The pandemic has exacerbated pressure on working mums to balance the demands of work and childcare. The foreign workers who leave their own children behind to support local families should be especially honoured.


Foreign domestic workers in Hong Kong

Women and gender

Mother's Day

Gender

Expresses the views, ideas and conclusions of the author. (Eg. Enough of Crazy Rich Asians, think of crazy poor Hongkongers.)


Column