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Policy Statement
The University is committed to creating, promoting and maintaining an environment of equality of opportunity for members of the University community, free of any discrimination/harassment. The University recognises that the broad range of experiences a diverse staff and student body brings is very important to the University’s continuous pursuit of excellence in teaching and learning, research, and knowledge exchange. As a global university, we must continue to foster the culture of respect, diversity and inclusion, which enables everyone to grow and flourish. The University supports equal opportunity and strongly opposes discrimination/harassment. The University will take whatever action may be needed to prevent, and if necessary, discipline behaviour which violates the Equal Opportunity Policy.
Our equal opportunity policy prohibits
- Sex discrimination
- Sexual harassment
- Marital status discrimination
- Pregnancy discrimination
- Breastfeeding discrimination
- Breastfeeding harassment
- Disability discrimination
- Disability harassment/vilification
- Family status discrimination
- Racial discrimination
- Racial harassment/vilification
- Discrimination on the ground of sexual orientation
- Harassment on the ground of sexual orientation
- Victimisation discrimination
Examples
Sex discrimination
A department organised an event in which female participants could join it free of charge while male participants needed to pay an entrance fee.
Sexual harassment
A student sent pornographic images or text messages on social media to another student, making the latter feel offended.
A part-time lecturer makes offensive or derogatory remarks about the body of a transgender student.
Marital status discrimination
A department refused to admit a qualified student simply because he was married.
Pregnancy discrimination
A boss fired a secretary after she had reported her pregnancy because the boss wanted to save the cost in employing a temporary replacement during her maternity leave.
Breastfeeding discrimination
A staff member is not allowed to use a meeting room in the office to express milk, whereas other staff members are allowed to use the meeting room for lunch.
Breastfeeding harassment
A colleague makes offensive jokes and gestures to a co-worker who has to express milk during office hour.
Disability discrimination
A department refused to employ a qualified person simply because that person had AIDS.
Disability harassment
A student made fun of another student who had cerebral palsy by mimicking how the latter spoke.
Disability vilification
A student publicly commented that persons with mental illness were “time-bombs” and should be condemned and isolated.
Family status discrimination
A boss did not promote a qualified staff fearing that she might not be able to attend overseas conferences because of her need to take care of her young son.
Racial discrimination
A service department refused to provide service to a student because of his or her skin colour.
Racial harassment
A white student commented that all black students were stupid.
Racial vilification
A student made racially abusive comments in public about persons of a particular race to incite hatred towards them.
Discrimination on the ground of sexual orientation
A staff member is given a lower rating in performance review because of his or her sexual orientation.
Harassment on the ground of sexual orientation
Some students openly teased a lesbian hallmate on the ground of her sexual orientation and refused to allow her to use the study room.
Victimisation discrimination
X fired Y just because Y had lodged a sexual harassment complaint against X.
Procedures for Handling Discrimination/Harassment Complaints
Flow Chart on Handling Requests for Advice/Assistance and Complaints on Discrimination/Harassment
For enquiries and complaints
Equal Opportunity Unit
Address: Room 107, 1/F, Main Building, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong
Telephone: 3917 1768
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.