婦女遺囑的秘密 -- 性工作者與女性獨立
Women Secrets Behind their Wills -- sex workers and women’s independency
| Theme Book : | 《婦女遺囑藏著的秘密人生、家庭與社會》 Women Secrets behind their Wills |
| Speakers : | 嚴潔心小姐 Miss Kendy Yim 鄭宏泰博士 Dr. Victor Zheng 黃紹倫教授 Prof. Siu-lun Wong |
| Moderator: |
莊玉惜小姐 Miss Yuk Sik Chong |
| Date : | 14 October 2010 (Thursday) |
| Time : | 7:15 pm - 9:00 pm |
| Venue : | Special Collections, 1/F, Main Library, The University of Hong Kong |
| Language : | Cantonese (Simultaneous Interpretation to English) |
About the Talk
在今天社會，女性能以自己雙手賺取財富，再以本身名義擁有財富，或是死後按個人意願分配財富尚且不易，在一個多世紀前的封建社會，其困難之處更是不難想像。在一批訂立於百多年前的華人遺囑中，竟然有一個不少的比例來自被支配、被欺壓的女性，遺囑內又牽涉為數不少的財富（尤其是樓宇或地皮），其突破傳統的特殊之處可想而知。
《婦女遺囑藏著的秘密人生、家庭與社會》的作者鄭宏泰博士與黃紹倫教授發現，在百年前已立有遺囑的婦女大多為性工作者。撇除道德問題不談，部份弱質婦女走出閨門，踏上當娼路途的舉動，雖然令她們承受一定社會壓力，但又確實讓她們得一定金錢收入，能夠養活家人，獲得一定的財政自主，從而掌握自己的命運。部份婦女更變得生活優裕，甚至擁有物業財產。因此，她們能訂立遺囑，便不足為奇了。
在這百年來，社會經歷了巨大轉變，婦女地位亦有所提高。那麼，現代的性工作者與百年前的娼妓有何分別？她們踏上此途的心態和過程與舊時婦女有何不同？她們面對的困難又有何不同？她們能爭取到經濟獨立嗎？
鄭宏泰博士與黃紹倫教授，將聯同青島（一間為女性性服務業從業員提供服務及支援的機構）的行政總監嚴潔心小姐，一起探討性工作者與女性地位這個課題。
Today, women are able to create their own fortune and accumulate wealth in their own right. It is, however, still uneasy for women to determine who and how to pass their legacies. A century ago, the difficulties on this issue faced by the women would be unimaginable in the then feudal society.
In many of the wills made by the Hong Kong Chinese from the 1840s to 1940s, surprisingly, a good number of them were made by females, then a group being suppressed and dominated. Their wishes involved a huge amount of wealth, especially from real estates, which gave a very contradictory view of reality from our traditional understanding about them.
Dr. Victor Zheng and Prof. Siu-lun Wong, the authors of Women Secrets Behind their Wills, discover that many of the wills were made by sex workers. Putting moral issues aside, becoming sex workers made them suffered pressure from society, on the other hand, it makes them gain fix income. They were able to feed their family and to gain financial independency. Some of them even got rich and gained their own properties. Therefore, it is not a surprise that these women could make their own will.
The society has changed a lot in these hundred years and the status of women has changed a lot too. Are the conditions of sex workers nowadays different from those in the past? Do they think differently? Are the problems they encounter different from those in the past? And, would they earn financial independency like the ones in the past?
Dr. Victor Zheng and Prof. Siu-lun Wong, together with Miss Kendy Yim, the Executive Director of Action for REACH OUT (Sex Workers Concern Group), would talk about the topic of sex workers and independency.
About the Speaker
嚴潔心小姐 Miss Kendy Yim
嚴潔心小姐，香港大學中文大學社會學系項士，畢業論文以「香港街頭性工作者──性別與社會組織」為題，其後曾任職於多個非政府組織，現為青鳥之行政總監。青鳥成立於1993年，致力為女性性服務業從業員提供所需服務及支援，並以倡議性工作者權益及性工作非刑事化為目標。
Miss Kendy Yim obtained her MSSc. in Sociology from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. The title of her honors project is Street Sex Workers in Hong Kong: gender and social organization. She had worked for several non-governmental organizations before joining Action for REACH OUT (AFRO) in 2006. Currently she is the Executive Director of the organization. Action for REACH OUT is a Sex Workers Concern Group established in 1993. It offers services and support to women working in the sex industry in Hong Kong, advocates for sex workers’ rights and works towards decriminalization of sex work in the long run.
鄭宏泰博士 Dr. Victor Zheng
鄭宏泰博士，現任香港大學香港人文社會研究所助理教授[研究]。鄭博士先後在香港大學考獲工商管理學士、哲學碩士及哲學博士，主要從事華人家族企業傳承、香港潮州人及米業、香港華人身份認同、香港股票市場、香港及澳門社會調查與分析等研究。
Dr. Victor Zheng is currently Research Assistant Professor of the Hong Kong Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences, the University of Hong Kong. His research interests include: Chinese family business and inheritance; Hong Kong commercial history and society; Hong Kong and Macao social indicators; social transformation and identity; and gender studies.
黃紹倫教授 Prof. Siu-lun Wong
黃紹倫教授，香港大學香港人文社會研究所亞洲研究中心榮譽教授。黃教授先後在香港大學及香港中文大學取得社會科學學士及碩士學位，之後負笈英國牛津大學，獲得文學碩士及哲學博士學位，主要從事企業家精神、華人社會文化、移民現象、香港社會調查與分析等研究。
Prof. Siu-lun Wong is currently Honorary Professor of the Hong Kong Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences, the University of Hong Kong. His research interests include: Chinese family enterprises and entrepreneurship, business networks, migration, Hong Kong social indicators and the development of sociology in China.
莊玉惜小姐 Miss Yuk Sik Chong
莊玉惜，香港大學文物建築保育碩士。曾當十年記者，著有《街邊有檔報紙檔》一書。現於三聯書店擔任編輯，是《婦女遺囑藏著的秘密人生、家庭與社會》的責任編輯。
Miss Yuk Sik Chong, Master of Science in Conservation. She had been a journalist for ten years, and wrote the book Newspaper Stalls in Hong Kong. She is the editor of Women secrets behind their wills.
About the Book
《婦女遺囑藏著的秘密人生、家庭與社會》透過婦女於百年前所立的遺囑，解構早年香港婦女的經濟活動和探討婦女權利。
Through the wills made by women a hundred years ago, Women secrets behind their wills analyses the economic activities of Hong Kong women in the past and discusses the issue of women’s right.