| Author: | Lam, Wing-shan Simona |
| Title: | Gender-based occupational segregation in the Hong Kong civil service : social, organizational and individual contributing factors |
| Degree: | M.Sc. |
| Year: | 2000 |
| Subject: | Civil service -- China -- Hong Kong Sex role in the work environment -- China -- Hong Kong Hong Kong Polytechnic University -- Dissertations |
| Department: | Multi-disciplinary Studies Department of Management |
| Pages: | vi, 56, [39] leaves : ill. ; 30 cm |
| Language: | English |
| Abstract: | The Civil Service has been one of the key institution in Hong Kong. The Civil Service is crucial in maintaining Hong Kong as a trading and commercial center, as a socially and politically stable community. The Civil Service has been a popular topic of study over a long period of time. A large group of studies concentrated on structures, functions and the role of the Civil Service. However, few studies explored the gender distribution within the Civil Service. An examination of the gender distribution of the Civil Service of 1999 indicates that even though there is gender balance in the redistributive functions, women are not well represented in the distributive and regulatory agencies. Representative bureaucracy and female parity at all functions in Civil Service are unrealized goals. Women continue to be concentrated into traditionally defined female occupations, in other words, within glass walls. The general Weberian principle that bureaucracy is by nature objective or neutral and therefore unisex, treating all persons in terms of function and role without regard to gender, is called into question. The survey with the officers of the Labour Department with regard to their career choice influences and their ethic of care dimension sheds light on the factors which contribute to the gender balance situation in the redistributive agency. It is discovered that women in the Labour Department possess mild ethic of care and they are slightly attracted to the organizational cultures of the department. The findings of this study are consistent with Lowi's theoretical argument that different policy types are associated with fairly distinct sets of structures, process, and relationships and these structures, process, and relationships may affect personnel patterns in government bureaucracies. Generally then, the organizational cultures in the redistributive agencies should be quite favorable to the hiring and promotion of women. Therefore, it is expected that women will be better represented in the redistributive agencies. Besides, the goals of many programs administered by redistributive agencies such as welfare, social justice, health are generally consistent with arguments made by Gilligan that many women might more likely to possess or are thought to possess an ethic of care. |
| Rights: | All rights reserved |
| Access: | restricted access |
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| File | Description | Size | Format | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| b1569026x.pdf | For All Users (off-campus access for PolyU Staff & Students only) | 2.9 MB | Adobe PDF | View/Open |
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