Marginalisation and Empowerment

CGED Research Seminar Series 2020-2021:

Marginalisation and Empowerment: Voices of Hong Kong Women
Panel 2: Visual Storytelling: Photography as Empowerment

Date: 7 March 2021 (Sunday) 
Time: 2:30-4:30pm
Venue: Zoom

This seminar is co-organised by the Committee on Gender Equality and Diversity (CGED), Faculty of Arts, The University of Hong Kong (HKU), and the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) as a concurrent event of the photo exhibition “The Way We Are” at G/F, Run Run Shaw Tower, HKU, from 6-23 March 2021.

In 1989, American scholar and civil rights advocate Kimberlé Crenshaw coined the term “intersectionality” to capture how various forms of inequality often operate together and exacerbate each other, arguing that neither sexism nor racism alone could account for experiences of oppression among African American women.

Thirty years on, the concept remains a useful and relevant lens to understand the marginalisation of women in different cultural contexts. Focusing on carers, non-Chinese youth, migrant workers and new arrivals from mainland China, this seminar examines how gender, ethnic identity and socio-economic status continue to intersect and inform the challenges facing underrepresented women in Hong Kong today, and their implications for public policy. It also explores the history and potential of art – photography in particular – as a medium of empowerment and catharsis.

Moderator: Roslyn L. Hammers

This seminar is co-organised by the Faculty of Arts and Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC)