The Fourth Graduation Ceremony of the Capacity Building Mileage Programme was held on May 16 2008 at Hong Kong Baptist University Academic Community Hall. Certificates were awarded to a total of 521 graduates. Among them, 265 have accumulated 25 mileage points and were awarded Level 1 Certificate, 122 awarded Level 2 Certificate (with 50 mileage points), 60 awarded Level 3 Certificate (with 75 mileage points), 53 awarded Level 4 Certificate (with 100 mileage points), and 16 awarded Level 5 Certificate (with 150 mileage points). For the first time, Level 6 Certificates were awarded to 5 graduates.

At the ceremony, certificates were also presented to learners and collaborating community organizations with outstanding performance.

Officiating at the ceremony were the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr. Matthew Cheung; Women's Commission Chairperson, Ms. Sophia Kao; Deputy Secretary of Education and Manpower Bureau, Ms. Bernadette Linn; President of The Open University of Hong Kong, Professor C. Y. Leong; Director of Strategic Planning of Commercial Radio, Mr. Vincent Wong; and Director, LiPACE, The Open University of Hong Kong, Professor Lui Yu-hon.

Over 900 family members and friends of the graduates, as well as guests from various sectors of the community also attended the ceremony to share the joy of the graduates.

The Commission held an exhibition on Women of Hong Kong - A Century of Contribution and Development last year from 30 November to 3 December. The Exhibition presented to the public the history of Hong Kong women's development in various aspects over the past century. An essay competition was organised alongside the Exhibition to invite members of the public to reflect on gender issues and to express their views after visiting the Exhibition so as to further enhance gender awareness of the public.

The response was overwhelming and a total of 104 entries were received, with 73 from females and 29 from males. Among them, 77 entries were from the Secondary Schools Division. There were 14 winners in total and nine of them are female. The list of awards, winners and the winning pieces is as follows:

* Please click the names of the winners to view the winning pieces.

The Women's Commission held a luncheon talk to celebrate the International Women's Day on 8 March 2008 at the Hong Kong Football Club. The Commission adopted "Women in Leadership" as the theme of the reception and luncheon talk. Ms Chan Yuen-han, Mrs Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee, Ms Connie Lau Yin-hing and Ms Mary Ma shared with participants their experience of being a women leader.

Officiating at the event were Ms Sophia Kao, Chairperson of the Women's Commission; Ms Guo Li, Deputy Director, Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region; Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, Secretary for Labour and Welfare; and Mr Paul Tang Kwok-wai, Permanent Secretary for Labour and Welfare.

nternational Women's Day supplements placed with two Chinese and one English newspapers, and publicity leaflets showing various women-related activities organised by various organisations and community groups around March 2008 were distributed.

The Women's Commission, since its establishment in January 2001, has celebrated International Women's Day (IWD) with official receptions for members of women's groups and various communities in Hong Kong. Opportunity has also been taken on each occasion to involve as many interested parties as possible in the event and related activities with a view to sustaining and expanding the public attention on the well-being and interests of women.

As in previous years, the Women's Commission has compiled an information leaflet on NGO activities to celebrate IWD. The leaflet aims to collect and collate information on activities to be held around the time of IWD (in the month of March 2008 or afterwards) for the community at large or for women.

Please click here to download the leaflet