Women's Participation in Advisory and Statutory Bodies

Enhancing women's participation in public decision-making is another key goal of the Women's Commission. To achieve this goal, the Commission meets with the Home and Youth Affairs Bureau (HYAB) from time to time to discuss how the Commission may enhance women's participation in government advisory and statutory bodies (ASBs).

ASBs play an important role in Hong Kong's public policy making structure and decision making process. They advise the Government on specific areas of work or to perform specific public functions. There are about 400 advisory and statutory bodies dealing with a wide range of areas and subjects which are very relevant to our daily lives. Government officials and members of the public are represented on these bodies. About 3,500 members of the public have been appointed to serve on one or more of these bodies in view of their personal expertise, experience, commitment to public service and the specific needs of the concerned bodies.

Women's participation in public decision-making is not only an important aspect in the advancement of women's status, but will also benefit society by ensuring that the perspectives and concerns of both genders are fully reflected, thereby enabling the Government to benefit from the all-round advice and gauge the views of both genders more extensively in its policy formulation.

The Commission believes that there are many capable women who are willing to participate in community and public service. If you are interested in serving on This link will open in a new windowadvisory and statutory bodies, we invite you to complete the This link will open in a new windowcurriculum vitae form and return it to the Home and Youth Affairs Bureau for inclusion in a centralized database which contains membership records of non-official members serving on advisory and statutory bodies as well as the personal data of those interested and prepared to serve on these bodies.The database will serve as a useful reference for relevant Bureaux/Departments when they are appointing members to the advisory and statutory bodies under their purview.