Listen to #Hashtag Hong Kong every Sunday morning at 8.15
Focusing on issues affecting civil society, we'll hear from representatives of NGOs, associations, statutory bodies, and non-profit groups.
(Sundays 8.15am - 8.25am)
Good morning! Hong Kong can no longer treat women’s health as a niche issue. Women make up more than half of our population and live longer than men, yet they face worse health outcomes, heavier caregiving burdens, and a system designed largely around male bodies and data.
In 2022, Hong Kong had about 4.06 million women and 3.41 million men. When we talk about public health, we are largely talking about women’s health. Yet women’s labour participation remains below 50%, compared with more than 65% for men. Many cite family, health, or caregiving duties as the reason for not working.
Women live longer but not necessarily healthier lives. Globally, women spend about nine years in poor health—roughly 25% longer than men—and Hong Kong follows that trend. More women are living with chronic illness and unpaid caregiving roles. This is not just a personal burden; it’s a structural problem for our city.
The “gender health gap” means women often get sicker, suffer longer, and are taken less seriously when seeking care. Under‑research and under‑funding lead to misdiagnosis, delayed treatment, and therapies tested mostly on male bodies. Many women will recognise this: period pain dismissed as “normal,” endometriosis diagnosed after years of suffering, or menopause symptoms brushed off as stress.
Surveys show men and women in Hong Kong see gender equality very differently. Men tend to overestimate women’s access to opportunity and safety, while women report persistent barriers. In healthcare, this gap shows up as “medical gaslighting,” when women’s pain is downplayed or blamed on stress. As a result, serious conditions like heart disease, autoimmune disorders, or depression can go untreated for years.
One promising answer is **femtech**—innovation focused on women’s health. It includes cycle‑tracking apps, fertility and menopause platforms, pelvic‑floor devices, and AI tools personalised for conditions like PCOS or endometriosis. Demand is soaring, but these conditions have long received only a fraction of research funding.
Hong Kong is well‑placed to become a hub for women’s health innovation. Government bodies such as InvestHK and Science Park are incubating femtech start‑ups and hosting women’s health events. This momentum should continue, because the economic case is clear. A McKinsey study found that every dollar invested in women’s health can yield up to three dollars in GDP through higher productivity and participation. Advancing women’s health is both moral and economical.
The data reinforce the urgency. Breast cancer remains the leading cause of female cancer deaths in Hong Kong, yet screening rates lag, especially among lower‑income or older women. Only about 39% of eligible women receive Pap smears for HPV and cervical cancer—diseases that are preventable with early detection.
These gaps spill into the workplace too. Many women cut hours or leave jobs due to reproductive or chronic health issues. If we want more women in the workforce, we must normalise discussions of menstrual, fertility, and menopausal health, address mental strain, and ensure workplaces are designed with women’s needs in mind.
What can individuals do?
1. Talk openly about women’s health—periods, fertility, miscarriage, menopause, and mental wellbeing. Normalising these topics reduces shame and delays in care.
2. Use available tools. Attend community talks, use evidence‑based femtech apps, and try home screening kits where appropriate.
3. Keep up with screenings. Schedule mammograms, Pap smears, and other checks—and encourage friends and family to do the same. Early detection saves lives.
4. Challenge dismissive attitudes. When someone calls something “just women’s problems,” remind them women’s health is public health. Seek second opinions if something feels wrong.
5. Join clinical trials. Local research depends on participation to generate better, locally relevant data.
What more should government and institutions do?
1. Fund research and data. Back studies on women‑specific conditions, require sex‑disaggregated data, and update clinical guidelines accordingly.
2. Integrate women’s health in primary care. Expand subsidised screening and outreach, especially in under‑served districts, and make reproductive and menopause services standard in public clinics.
3. Support femtech responsibly. Offer grants and incubator space for women‑led start‑ups and ensure digital tools are evidence‑based and inclusive.
4. Create healthier workplaces. Encourage flexible work, period and menopause‑friendly policies, and benefits recognising fertility treatment, pregnancy loss, and caregiving.
5. Invite investors to step up. Women’s health is one of the fastest‑growing innovation markets—this is the time to invest.
Closing the gender health gap and investing in women’s health innovation isn’t only about helping women feel better—it’s about building a healthier, fairer, and more prosperous city for everyone.
As most will know, the law can be complicated, confusing and costly. In Hong Kong, 1.394 million people live at or below the poverty line and that population cannot afford to pay private lawyers’ fees.
We know from the Department of Justice’s 2008 consultancy study on the “Demand for and Supply of Legal and Related Services” that 79% of people in Hong Kong did not know what to do when faced with a legal problem and that 40% of respondents for that survey had a legal problem. Using these numbers, we estimate that the pool of disadvantaged people with a legal problem is 550,000, or thereabouts, and, of those, some 440,000 do not know where to go for help.
And so the fact is that, for HK’s poorest people, the most disadvantaged people, there is a legal access gap. The people we serve are underprivileged and are often also very vulnerable. Typical legal problems include things like family matters, employment and discrimination, education, housing, immigration, criminal matters and sometimes, personal injury, healthcare, probate and of course increasingly online scams.
They extraordinary people face significant disadvantages due to a confluence of factors: the complexity of the legal system, a lack of financial resources and education, cultural and gender access to justice barriers as well as an absence of legal and digital literacy. Language barriers can actually be a major barrier. Limited financial resources restrict people’s access to private legal representation. Lack of education and awareness about their rights further exacerbates the issue they face, making them vulnerable to exploitation and unfair treatment. There are also some systemic biases within the legal system can also disproportionately affect marginalised communities.
The government services and clinics may not always provide interpreters to non-Cantonese or non-English-speaking people, which can really complicate access to information, advice and/or representation. There are also Cultural stigmas around legal action, particularly in family or employment disputes, which can make individuals not seek help early enough, which means there is an over reliance on informal networks rather than the formal legal channels. And all these mean that even if the legal problem is settled for now, the outcome is not legally enforceable and it means thee can be even more problems further down the line. Overcoming these barriers requires comprehensive legal aid, community outreach, and also we would hope for some systemic reforms to ensure equal access to justice.
Hong Kong has limited publicly funded community legal information and advice centres. While the Department of Justice, the legal professional bodies, the Duty Lawyer Service and the Legal Aid Department provide some support, this does not cover all cases. In fact, it also only addresses cases once a person is able to identified and not everyone knows that the problem they have has a legal solution, let alone being able to name it and even to work out what to do about it.
Equal Justice fills this initial void by offering assistance in the early problem identification phases, helping with settlement to avoid stressful and costly court proceedings, linking disadvantaged people to lawyers and helping them throughout their case journey so they are supported, can understand what is going on and can navigate the system well enough to make informed decisions. And why? To ensure that they avoid any further hardship and specifically poverty.
We provide legal first aid - to disadvantaged people - who cannot afford or otherwise access the law and legal support. We empower people and communities with legal education, information, and support, to ensure that justice isn’t just a privilege for the wealthy and well-connected. We give free, face-to-face, tailored legal information and support, and and also refer cases to lawyers and counsellors. So far, we have worked on 3,000 cases, and we’re just 5 years old. Ad the people we help are 50% women, 30% children and 20% men.
When it comes to generalised legal support for Hong Kong’s disadvantaged population, organisations like Equal Justice and university clinics rely heavily on pro bono lawyers. But, demand often outstrips supply, especially for time-intensive cases like child abuse or neglect, intimate partner violence, discrimination and family disputes.
We have partnerships with 100+ amazing law firms and 54+ charities are robust but may not be able to scale given the widespread needs that we are already experienced. And our caseload has increased ~40% each year for the last 3 years, which is quite significant.
In March 2025, rather wonderfully, the HK Bar Association announced that they will be partnering with Equal Justice and 3 other NGOs more closely to bridge the community legal access gap. This is a very welcome endorsement.
