Full metadata record
DC FieldValueLanguage
dc.contributorDepartment of Applied Social Studiesen_US
dc.creatorLui, Ka-wai-
dc.identifier.urihttps://theses.lib.polyu.edu.hk/handle/200/1440-
dc.languageEnglishen_US
dc.publisherHong Kong Polytechnic University-
dc.rightsAll rights reserveden_US
dc.titleConstructing women's disadvantaged position in the labor market : with reference to the employees retraining scheme in Hong Kongen_US
dcterms.abstractA diversified studies to explore women's employment situations have been conducted and launched. No matter how detailed these studies are, women are viewed as passive puppets stripped by structural constraints. Though not necessarily intentional, conclusions of these studies connote that unemployment is caused by women's own fault. This is due to the fact that they failed to fulfill demands from both their families and jobs. Nevertheless, the fact that, as an individual and an active agent, women have independent thinking, whose trends of thoughts, struggle and resistance are seldom made manifested. In a changing economic environment like Hong Kong, some women actively try to alter the fate of being laid off and unemployed by enhancing their competitiveness through participating in the Employees Retraining Scheme. In fact, 80 per cent of the scheme participants are female. Though they have different employment outcomes and experiences after joining the Scheme, their perceptions towards labor market positions are shaped. The experience they got is very useful for understanding how employment structures and individual agents interact reciprocally. This study shows how the Employees Retraining Scheme plays a part in constructing women's employment situations. The Scheme aims at assisting the unemployed to re-enter the labor market by equipping them with some vocational and social skills. Though it helped more than 70 per cent of the participants to re-employment, their new employment situation is generally unsatisfactory. Many of them have had to accept lower pay and poorer job status. Moreover, findings also show that retraining experiences degraded women participants' job expectations. Participation in retraining is then associated with a lowering of self-esteem and a compromise with the reality. The Retraining Scheme cannot alleviate women's unemployment problems, but in turn puts them into disadvantageous labor market positions. It is thought that if the Scheme is constantly blind to women's familial considerations and their unequal treatments encountered in the employment structure, plus the fact that the social services and institutional efforts are inadequate in the support of working women, any added effort to tackle women's unemployment problem will remain in vain. The study chiefly adopts a qualitative method in order to manifest the interactive processes among women as individuals, the Retraining Scheme and the employment structures. Through in-depth interviews with fifteen middle-aged female graduates of various retraining programs, I tried to show how their individual experiences, struggles, resistance, feelings and perceptions during and after retraining which changed them in a way they interact with the structured environment. Documentary reviews and unstructured sharing groups held in retraining settings also serve as a more detailed record for the context of this study. Apart from examining only structural aspects, this study also addresses women as individual agents, whose thoughts, perceptions and acts are important elements in constituting and reproducing a social phenomenon.en_US
dcterms.extent233, [18] leaves ; 30 cmen_US
dcterms.isPartOfPolyU Electronic Thesesen_US
dcterms.issued1999en_US
dcterms.educationalLevelAll Masteren_US
dcterms.educationalLevelM.Phil.en_US
dcterms.LCSHWomen -- Employment -- China -- Hong Kongen_US
dcterms.LCSHOccupational retraining -- China -- Hong Kongen_US
dcterms.LCSHWomen -- China -- Hong Kong -- Social conditionsen_US
dcterms.LCSHHong Kong Polytechnic University -- Dissertationsen_US
dcterms.accessRightsopen accessen_US

Files in This Item:
File Description SizeFormat 
b14847139.pdfFor All Users7.8 MBAdobe PDFView/Open


Copyright Undertaking

As a bona fide Library user, I declare that:

  1. I will abide by the rules and legal ordinances governing copyright regarding the use of the Database.
  2. I will use the Database for the purpose of my research or private study only and not for circulation or further reproduction or any other purpose.
  3. I agree to indemnify and hold the University harmless from and against any loss, damage, cost, liability or expenses arising from copyright infringement or unauthorized usage.

By downloading any item(s) listed above, you acknowledge that you have read and understood the copyright undertaking as stated above, and agree to be bound by all of its terms.

Show simple item record

Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://theses.lib.polyu.edu.hk/handle/200/1440