Intimacy, work and family life in Chinese diasporic communities

Abstract

This paper addresses the intersecting nexus of intimacy, work and family life confronting professional women in Chinese diasporic communities in Hong Kong and Singapore. While Hong Kong and Singapore are cosmopolitan cities having international and diverse communities, they are also Chinese cities in terms of composition and history. Professional women in these communities face a number of personal and social issues confronting them in their intimate relationships and their work lives. While the Chinese populations in Hong Kong and Singapore are very different, and in Singapore are part of a much broader multi-ethnic population, there are a number of traditional elements of Chinese family and business life which give these populations a particular definition and which provide professional women with additional challenges. Hong Kong is a more "open" society than Singapore where attitudes to marriage and procreation is seen as a legitimate area of state intervention. Such policies are increasingly being challenged by a pragmatic and materialist population tired of such interventions into their private lives. However "singlehood", divorce and decisions not to procreate are still seen as deviant activities for both women and men. This paper explores the relationship of intimacy, work and family life for women in these global cities and is part of a larger work entitled "Global Cities, Gender Equity and Changing Work Cultures in Asia".