The stranger | In a man’s world

Sheyla Zandonai

The Secretaries who will compose Ho Iat Seng’s incoming administration have been revealed this week. Among the familiar and less-known heads, one in particular came as a surprise. Ao Ieong U, director of the Identification Department, has been appointed the Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture.
Ms. Ao Ieong is a long-term civil servant, with some 25 years, so far, devoted to public life; making her a loyal bureaucrat whose political experience is limited. With that in mind, it seems unrealistic to expect that Ms. Ao Ieong would surprise us all by unveiling herself to be a dynamic and far-sighted government member in the eyes of the general public. To speak the truth, hers is more of an unassuming character, so that not much about her abilities to author policy and make decisions on cultural, social and health matters can be inferred. In any case, surrounding herself with experienced advisors would be just as vital.
Yet, Ms. Ao Ieong is one of the two women entering the new administration – the other is Hoi Lai Fong, appointed as Mr. Ho’s Chief-of-Office – and this should not be taken for granted. I don’t normally believe that gender distinctions amount to much but bias. Competence, intelligence and ingenuity do not belong to either men or women. But if there is an area in which Ms. Ao Ieong could make a difference, it is in the much-delayed matter of parental leave and legal protection for breastfeeding, exactly because she is a woman.
In 2016, the government pledged to advance with a law that would ensure women’s right to breastfeed and protect those who breastfeed in public against unpleasant experiences and harassment coming from people who don’t seem to know better. No proposal has been presented so far, and that is in spite of lobbying from women-based associations and repeated interpellations by legislators, who all also happen to be women: Ella Lei, Agnes Lam, Wong Kit Cheng.
Thus, in political terms, it still seems this is mostly a women’s fight. Why, one comes to think? Regardless of their sex, babies benefit immensely from having their parents close to them during the first months and early years of life, as well as breastfeeding for at least six months, according to recommendations from the World Health Organization (WHO).
Men who have a hard time acknowledging that or advocating for a progressive agenda that could provide support for a woman and her baby when they need it the most, fail to recognize their primary caregivers: they were all born from a woman’s womb, and were often nursed and reared by them.
In part, a big problem comes from the fact that many men – including husbands, business owners and the gentlemen who run this city – are not well informed at all about the physical and emotional difficulties encountered by and the perseverance required from women who decide to breastfeed for at least six months; to do so in a society that is not educated in this regard and where infant formula is still perceived as paramount.
Politicians who are still dismissing this basic human need are clearly missing the point. And, again, although I would normally refrain from saying so, given that the faces of those advocating for better motherhood conditions in Macau – from legislators and activists to associations – are all female, it still seems to be a matter for women to undertake. Surely, Ms. Ao Ieong has a role to play. She has the Office and likely the support of half of the city’s working population. Imagine if all of them decided to stop working just for one day.