ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book illustrates how gender inequality is being constructed in the housing system. It looks at how women are being confined to their homes and subordinated within the family because of housing conditions in the new towns. The book also looks at how women in new towns are being marginalized from, subordinated in or even excluded from the employment system. It argues that women's housing problems are socially constructed by our patriarchal social system coupled with our laissez-faire capitalist system in Hong Kong. Gender inequality in housing is seldom an issue of concern in Hong Kong, which is also true in most countries in the world. The limited access to housing resources and the discrimination against women in housing design contribute to increase their burdens of homemaking, confine women to their homes, reinforce their subordination within the family and their dependency upon men.
