Lai-Ching Leung - Lone Mothers, Social Security and the Family in Hong Kong

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LONE MOTHERS, SOCIAL SECURITY AND THE FAMILY IN HONG KONG

To Kam Wah

Lone Mothers, Social Security and the Family in Hong Kong

LAI CHING LEUNG

Department of Applied Social Studies

City University of Hong Kong

First published 1998 by Ashgate Publishing

Published 2017 by Routledge

2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN

711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

Copyright Lai Ching Leung 1998

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Notice:

Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

Leung, Lai Ching

Lone mothers, social security and the family in Hong Kong

1.Single mothers - Hong Kong 2.Single mothers - Services for - Hong Kong 3.Family policy - Hong Kong

I.Title

362.8392095125

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 97077889

ISBN 13: 978-1-84014-320-1 (hbk)

Contents

Exchange Rates of Hong Kong Dollar against Sterling

End of Period	Pound	: HK$)
1990	1	: 14.95
1991	1	: 14.53
1992	1	: 11.77

Source: Hong Kong Government, Hong Kong 1993, p.425

This book has originated from my doctoral research submitted to the University of Kent at Canterbury. I wish to express my deep gratitude to the people who offered support to me on the process of writing the thesis. Special thanks go to my supervisor Professor Vic George, who shared his rich experience in social policy research and guided me to overcome many difficulties in this study. He has shown great patience in reading through my drafts and has given valuable comments and suggestions. I would also like to thank Professor Clare Ungerson, who was the supervisor of my thesis in the early stage. She provided me with insights on how to use a feminist research methodology.

I am also indebted to all the lone mothers and social security officers who were interviewed in this study. Their patience and co-operation made this research possible. I also record my thanks to the friends of lone-parents groups and social service agencies who helped to arrange the interviews. Thanks also due to Robin Snell for proof-reading part of the thesis.

I owe a special thanks to my companion Kam Wah, this book would not be finished without his encouragement and unfailing support.

This study concerns lone mothers drawing social security benefits and the possible influence of this on their incentive to take up paid employment. The rising levels of public expenditure and declining rates of economic growth have become one of the major worries in the western countries such as UK and the USA. This has strengthened the traditional view that the receipt of social security benefits creates disincentives to work among benefit claimants. In turn this has been interpreted by some people in a way that blames the unemployed and lone mothers for their condition.

Work disincentive debates in Western countries call for comparison to be made with policy studies in Hong Kong. How similar is the situation of lone mothers in Hong Kong to that of lone mothers in Western countries? What factors affect the decision of lone mothers whether to stay on social security or go out to work? Do they really make rational choices between paid work or staying on benefits? Do they set reservation wages and if so how? Do lone mothers see themselves as earners or carers after the marriage breakdown? This study attempts to throw light on these questions.

To understand the incentive to work concerning benefits claimants, one needs to scrutinize the twin notions of dependency culture and underclass. Individualistic explanations argue that the generosity of social security benefits creates work disincentives (Gilder, 1982; Auletta, 1982; Murray, 1984), while structural explanations look for the causes in the structures of society (Darhendorf, 1990; Walker, 1990; Dean and Taylor-Gooby, 1992; Field, 1992; George, 1993). A great deal of evidence from research studies refutes the claim that benefit claimants stay out of work because they are financially better off living on benefits than in work (McLaughlin et al., 1989; Ritchie, 1990; Garman et al., 1992). It is also dangerous to assume that being unemployed is regarded as socially morally acceptable, even among the unemployed. On the contrary, the economic dependency of benefit claimants is socially constructed. Most claimants are trapped into the social security system.

Current debates on work incentives suffer from two further deficiencies. First, they are mainly focused on the impact of social security benefits on unemployed (mostly men) rather than on women who stay out of work (in particular lone mothers with dependent children), though some structuralist have acknowledged that gender is one of the sources of poverty i.e. for women. Otherwise, debates on social security and lone mothers are concerned the consequences of social security benefits to the growth of illegitimate children. Second, previous research studies concentrate on the effects of benefits on the labour supply of the unemployed, rather than the processes operating within the social security system as a whole.

To understand the economic dependency of lone mothers, as some feminist writers suggest, we should take into account the gendered division of labour in the family and in the labour market (Glendinning and Millar, 1992; Evans, 1988; Lister, 1992). The economic dependency of women on the state is not only the result of lone-parenthood but also stems from their position in the labour market. It will be revealing to compare the different economic circumstances of lone mothers and lone fathers (Weale et al., 1984; Brown, 1989).

For these reasons, this study attempts to examine both the processes as well as the effects of the social security system on the labour supply of lone mothers in Hong Kong. Two particular aspects of the labour supply behaviour of lone mothers are explored: first, the possible effects of social security on lone mothers employment; and second, knowledge and perceptions of social security benefits in the decision-making processes of lone mothers in relation to taking up paid work. A feminist analysis has been adopted in this study in order to avoid gender-bias in the research processes.

To understand the work incentive issue in the Hong Kong context, it is also important to bear in mind the effects of colonial social policy - miminal interventionist policy in social welfare and laissez-faire policy in economic affairs. As we know, total public expenditure has been far lower than has been standard among the OECD countries. For example, public expenditure in Hong Kong in 1986 was 15.9 per cent of GDP, only a little higher in percentage than Spains 15.2 per cent, which was the lowest among OECD countries, and well below Belgiums 35.8 per cent, which was the highest (Chan, 1995, p.42, OECD data as quoted in Cochrane, 1993, p.243244). Social security policy in Hong Kong, as MacPherson (1993) points out, has been seen as a safety net for those unable to support themselves and without relatives willing to support them. It is a policy of absolute minimum expenditure, and minimum intervention in the market or the system of family obligation. It is no surprise that people in Hong Kong are very resistant to the idea of claiming Benefits.

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