Anson chan biography of william

Mrs Chan has also held the post of Secretary for the Civil Service. Between and she was Secretary for Economic Services, a cabinet-level post which gave her responsibilities for overseeing Hong Kong's physical infrastructure, including ambitious port and airport facilities, the liberalisation of Hong Kong's telecommunications market, tourism, energy, food supplies and the monitoring of public utility companies.

Anson chan biography of william

As principal advisor to the Governor and head of Hong Kong's - strong civil service, she is responsible for the effective implementation of the whole range of the Government policies. She broke a year-tradition in being the first Chinese Chief Secretary. All previous incumbents have been British. She is also the first woman. Breaking new ground and scoring firsts is not new to Anson Chan.

She was first woman director of a government department, first woman head of a policy branch, first woman to head the civil service, first woman civil servant appointed to the Legislative Council. Asian women have suffered for countless years not just from unfair treatment but also unfair literary and media stereotyping. They are finally emerging as outstanding leaders in the region and internationally.

To Anson Chan the women of Hong Kong can point with pride. Her qualities of leadership have won recognition beyond our shores, as exemplified by the conferring in September of the degree of Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa on her by Tufts University, Massachusetts, for her "many achievements, and for her adherence to the ideals of fairness and openness in government".

She has, in addition, won many leadership awards. China has a notorious tradition of powerful women who have risen to power on the coat-tails or robe-tails, as the case may be of their husbands, but Anson Chan has risen through her own abilities. The family left for Hong Kong in as Communist forces were bearing down on Shanghai.

They were part of a wave of wealthy, well-connected industrialists who quickly found favour with the colonial government. They were rarely allowed out of the house, so they spent much of their time reading. I remember my mother as a very good cook. She made all of our clothes. She just seemed to be good at everything she did. She was a woman in many ways ahead of her time.

She had the good fortune of having a mother that saw value in making sure that her two daughters had the best education. In the s it was practically unheard of for a Chinese lady to be educated overseas, but my mother actually met my father when they were both studying at the University of Manchester. But it was only 75 percent of what her male colleagues earned, with no fringe benefits.

Chan was one of only two women accepted to the civil service that year. It was around this time that she helped establish the Association of Female Senior Government Officers, which fought for equal pay between men and women. Her tenure turned out to be more contentious than she expected. Her mother Fang Zhaoling who was also a Chinese painting master not only shouldered the responsibility of raising her children, but also tried to pursue her career as an artist.

She put herself through university by working as a private tutor and for a year as a clerk at Queen Mary Hospital. Along with studies, she was keen on amateur dramatics, and it was through this that she met her future husband, Archibald Chan Tai-wing. She began work on a social work diploma, but later changed her mind and joined the Hong Kong Civil Service in The following year, she married Archie, who became a science teacher at St Joseph's College.

Her salary was reportedly one-quarter that paid to men of equivalent grade. In , she became Assistant Financial Secretary in the Finance Branch of the Colonial Secretary, the first woman to attain that post. During this period she helped set up the Association of Female Senior Government Officers to fight for better rights for women civil servants, notably pushing for wage parity with men.

During her tenure, she was severely criticised by media for her handling of a child custody case in , popularly known as the Kwok Ah-nui incident. She later admitted that the media pressure had made her "very upset" and this led to keep her distance from the press, at least for a few years. She mainly oversaw the localisation of the civil service during her time in this position.

Chan was the first woman and the first ethnic Chinese to hold the second-highest governmental position in Hong Kong. Chan was often described during this era as an "Iron Lady", with "an iron fist in a velvet glove". She was considered most trusted high official in Hong Kong by both the UK and PRC government to appoint her to the head of the civil service, before and after the handover of Hong Kong.