Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

An Evaluation Of Women’S Social Status In Colonial Hong Kong With A Feminist Lens - Case Studies, Heng Du

Butler Journal of Undergraduate Research

Even though Hong Kong remained under British control from 1842 to 1997, denizens were not modernized in a way comparable to that of the British. To the contrary, while governing Hong Kong, British colonizers allowed continued reference to ancient Chinese customs in the area. Such policy diminished women’s chances of receiving fair treatment in matters such as property management and divorce. Unlike in Hong Kong, women were legislated to be parallel to men in matrimonial and property inheritance petitions in China, Britain, and colonial Singapore. This study is based on two exemplary cases judged by authorities in colonial Hong Kong. …