Social Construction of Gender Inequality in the Housing System

Housing Experience of Women in Hong Kong

Paul Pennartz, Anke Niehof

• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN: 9781138344075
• eBook ISBN: 9780429797828
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Sociology
• Index: Social Sciences

First published in 1997, this volume recognises the issue of gender inequality in Hong Kong housing. The invisibility of the housing problem is compounded by the dominant patriarchal Chinese culture in Hong Kong. The issue remains marginal in Western countries as well, despite increasing concern. Kam Wah Chan makes meaningful, insightful progress on the housing issue in Hong Kong by focusing on the crucial issues of housing for lone mothers and for women in new towns.

Part One
Theory and Methodology

1 Introduction

Gender inequality in housing is seldom an issue of concern in Hong Kong, which is also true in most countries in the world. At the early stage of my study, when I raised the concern for this issue most of my colleague thought that it was not a relevant issue in Hong Kong. They asserted that unlike people in Western countries who place more emphasis on individual rights and competition, Chinese people cherish harmony and cooperation. Therefore, they argued that gender inequality in general and conflicts between the two sexes is not as serious as that in Western countries, not to mention gender inequality in the housing system. Of course, this is only a myth rather than the reality.

The invisibility of the problem does not mean that there is no significant gender inequality in the housing system, despite the beliefs of most policy planners, politicians, academics, and even some social activists in Hong Kong. On the contrary, there is every reason to believe that the situation in Hong Kong is even worse than in Western countries, given the dominant patriarchal Chinese culture and the minimal government intervention in social services in this colonial capitalist state.

In Western countries, although there is increasing concern about women's situation in the housing system (Watson, 1988; Weisman, 1992; Gilroy and Woods, 1994; Morris and Winn, 1990, chapter 4; Birch, 1985; Matrix, 1984; Little et al., 1988; Moser and Peake, 1987; Brion and Tinker, 1980; International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 1978; Antipode, 1984; Built Environment, 1984; Signs, 1980), this issue is still marginal in policy analysis and housing studies. That is why there has been increasing concern to reinstate the gender dimension in housing studies (Pugh, 1990; Munro and Smith, 1989; Madigan et al., 1990; Watson, 1986b).

This problem is unlike those in the education and employment systems which are more explicitly linked to gender inequality. It is more subtle and is easily obscured. Housing problems are usually perceived as problems of physical spatial planning, or technological problems of design and management, which are more related to 'value free' scientific knowledge rather than to ideological practice and gender discrimination. In fact, sometimes ideological domination is so thorough that even women themselves feel that they are happy with the existing housing system and home life. However, it would be extremely erroneous to conclude that housing and home life is not oppressive for women.

In this study the term 'housing' is not only limited to the physical meaning of brick and mortar, it also includes the design of the environment, the provision of community facilities, allocation of housing resources and more importantly the nature of home life and the social relations embedded in housing. Of course, it is academically interesting to explore further the meaning of home, housing, household, or residence (Kemeny, 1992, chapter 1; Saunders and Williams, 1988; Saunders, 1989; Dickens, 1989), but that is not the main concern of this study. For this book, it suffices to say that the term housing is used to encompass all the spatial and social aspects relating to the home and the living environment.

One of the aims of this study is to reveal that gender inequality is prevalent in the housing system in Hong Kong. My stance is that the housing system does not only reflect existing inequality in gender relations, but it also helps to reinforce these social relations.

It is commonly believed that even though some women such as lone mothers and battered women may face serious housing problems, these are individual cases of mishap rather than consequence of gender inequality in the housing system. Even worse, some may argue that the misfortunes of these women have resulted from their own failure to maintain a happy family and their inability to solve their own problems, and that therefore it has nothing to do with the structure of gender inequality. These arguments are extremely popular in a laissez-faire capitalist system such as Hong Kong, where economic concerns dominate social policy planning (Walker, 1988).

Therefore, a more important aim of this book is to challenge the traditional conceptualization of women's housing problems as rooted in individual incompetence or in the breaking up of particular families. Traditional explanations of social problems tend to put the blame on the individual, assuming the problem is the result of individual inadequacy or misfortune. This book argues that women's housing problems are socially constructed by our patriarchal social system coupled with our laissez-faire capitalist system in Hong Kong. These two systems mutually reinforce each other to form a rigid web of gender discrimination which permeates all social systems, our family, our employment, our education, as well as the housing system. This influence is so far reaching that it predominates at the ideological level, the structural level, and in everyday social interactions. Women's housing problems are socially constructed and women's subordinate position in society is reinforced by a gender biased housing system.

To refute the common sense belief that there is no specific housing problem for women, here are some examples to highlight the extent of the problem. There are numerous problems facing women in our housing system. Women with different family backgrounds, ages, class, ethnicity, or education may experience housing inequality differently. Roughly, we can divide these problems into two major categories: 1) access to housing resources; and 2) discrimination in housing design and planning.

First, let us briefly look at women's access to housing resources. Many studies in Western countries have pointed out that women have less access to housing resources as compared to men (e.g. see Brion and Tinker, 1980; Watson and Austerberry, 1986; Austerberry and Watson, 1983; Coleman and Watson, 1987; Hardey, 1989). There are also numerous examples in Hong Kong. For example, lone mothers are not regarded as a priority group in applying for public housing. Sheltered housing services for battered women are extremely underdeveloped. Single women have extreme difficulties in finding appropriate accommodation both in the public and private housing market. Provision of housing for elderly people, mostly affecting women, is far behind social demand. In private housing this inequality in resource distribution is even more obvious. Male home owners far out-numbered that of female. Even in the case of joint ownership between husband and wife or between brothers and sisters, it is obvious that men always have greater control over housing property. It is even worse in traditional villages in rural areas in Hong Kong, where women are still not allowed to inherit land and housing property from their families.

Second, there is obvious discrimination against women in the design of housing and urban planning (Weisman, 1992; Little et al., 1988; Matrix, 1984; Women and Geography Study Group of Institute of British Geographers, 1984). For example, the design of housing and the community is based on the assumption that women are the carers for the family. Consequently, child care and homemaking services are not taken seriously in the development of community services. The underdevelopment of these services increases the burden on women (Bowlby, 1988; Roberts, 1984). The problem is further exacerbated in new towns where women are more isolated from their established social support network in the urban centre. The transportation system also neglects women's needs for getting around and constrains women's mobility (Pickup, 1988). This is true both for travel outside the community and inside it. Housing design encourages privatism in family life, thus hindering the development of neighbourhood support which is essential to reduce women's burdens of homemaking.

In short, the limited access to housing resources and the discrimination against women in housing design contribute to increase their burdens of homemaking, confine women to their homes, reinforce their subordination within the family and their dependency upon men.

Given the diverse nature of the problems facing women in the housing system, it is impossible and too confusing to deal with all the problems in a single study. This book picks up two of the most critical issues to illustrate how gender inequality is being constructed in the housing system. The first issue is lone mother's housing problem. I choose this issue because it is very evident that lone mothers, especially in the low income working class, are facing great difficulties in solving their housing problems. However, it is contentious to explain the causes of lone mothers' housing problems. Generally, lone mothers' problems are not understood in the context of gender inequality. The causes of their problems have been reduced to individual inadequacy and inability to solve their own problems. Even worse, some people would blame lone mothers for divorcing their husbands or breaking up the family. This study tries to demonstrate that housing and other related problems for lone mothers have not arisen from their own inadequacy. On the contrary, it is because of their commitment to take care of the children coupled with discrimination against lone mothers in our patriarchal and capitalist society that they have been trapped in such a disadvantaged position.

The second problem I am going to deal with is women's experience in new towns. This problem is chosen to illustrate the fact that experience of gender inequality is not only confined to certain groups of 'vulnerable' women in very exceptional situation such as the lone mothers. On the contrary, gender inequality exists widely in the housing system. At present, more than 40 per cent of the population in Hong Kong is living in new towns, and this is still increasing rapidly. We cannot say that women in new towns are a minority or a 'vulnerable' group. Yet, housing conditions in new towns could affect women's life chances adversely, albeit more subtly.

By focusing on housing problems of lone mothers and women in new towns we can see that gender inequality in the housing system exists extensively. The manifestation of this inequality may vary for women of different backgrounds. Sometimes the problem is more acute, such as the situation of lone mothers; sometimes it is more subtle and inconspicuous, such as the case of women in new towns. By looking at these two critical examples, we can better understand how gender inequality is constructed in the housing system.

This book starts by pointing out that housing studies has largely neglected the gender dimension (chapter 2). I am going to scrutinize critically the ideology underpinning the housing system and to examine the social basis of women's subordination in the housing system, so as to argue that the cause of women's housing problems lies in the gender biased housing system, not individual deficiency. In chapter 3, I try to ground these arguments in the Hong Kong context by examining policies and services in various social systems such as housing, employment and social welfare which have significant roles to play in constructing women's housing problems. Then, we discuss briefly the methodology adopted in this research in chapter 4, paying special attention to issues in conducting feminist research. In the data analysis of lone mothers' housing experience, we look at how lone mothers' problem solving ability is being restrained (chapter 5) on the one hand, and on the other hand how they are being discriminated and marginalized in the various type of housing (...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Dedication
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Figures and tables
• Acknowledgements
• Exchange rate
• Part One: Theory and methodology
• Part Two: Housing experiences of lone mothers
• Part Three: Women in new towns
• Part Four: Conclusion and discussion
• Appendix A Interview guidelines
• Appendix B Background of respondents
• Appendix C List of social housing services in Hong Kong
• Appendix D Geographic location of Hong Kong
• Bibliography