Hong Kong Chief Executive, Carrie Lam has hailed the fact that there are more women in the City’s Public Service compared with more than two decades ago.
In a video address to a global forum on Women and Poverty Reduction in the 21st century, Ms Lam said women were taking up critical positions in the Government.
“The percentage of female Civil Servants has gone up from 32 per cent before Hong Kong’s return to the motherland to 38 per cent today,” Ms Lam said.
“Of our 19 Permanent Secretaries, 13 are women,” she said.
“The percentage of female members serving on advisory and statutory bodies set up by the Government is now close to 30 per cent.”
Ms Lam said the figures spoke of the pivotal role played by women in Hong Kong’s public affairs.
Meanwhile, Public Service chief, Patrick Nip Tak-kuen said it was encouraging to see nearly 1.8 million Hong Kong residents participate in the city’s two-week free and voluntary mass COVID-19 testing.
Mr Nip said the money for the testing was well spent as it enabled the Government to get a more accurate grasp of the pandemic by identifying asymptomatic virus carriers and thereby sever transmission chains.
The Universal Community Testing Program, which has been completed, detected 42 confirmed infections, including 13 asymptomatic patients.
About 6,000 local medical workers and around 600 medical experts sent by the Central Government on the Chinese mainland worked on the program.
Hong Kong, 20 September 2020
