Political change and the women's movement in Hong Kong and Macau

During the colonial era, women's movements in Hong Kong and Macau differed substantially in nature, agenda, organization and strategies. Their divergence was mainly attributable to the different political opportunity structures offered by the British and the Portuguese colonial administrations at different points of time. Partial democratization in Hong Kong in the late transition period nurtured a rather vocal feminist movement which was not so in Macau during the same period. However, when Hong Kong and Macau became Special Administrative Regions (SARs) of China in 1997 and 1999 respectively, similar obstacles emerged before them. Though still substantially different in their levels of feminist consciousness, women's movements in both places have been increasingly constrained by the development of a crude nationalistic discourse that emphasizes unity and stability, and political structures that do not share power with civil society and respond selectively to social demands.