The Hong Kong Journal of Social Work

近年越來越多人關注男士面對的困境與壓力，與此同時，社會服務機構亦逐漸發展男士服務。然而，香港社會服務界對於如何理解男士面對的困境及男士服務的取向等問題，一直都未有深入的討論。基於此，我們於2011年底舉辦了一場研討會，約有40多位從事男士服務的社工及從事有關研究的學術界人士參與，進行了深入的研討與交流。當中帶出有很多值得深思的討論。本文嘗試將這些討論整理，作爲香港推展男士服務的參考。

本文整理出11個重要的課題，這些課題大致上可歸納爲服務發展方向與服務技巧兩大範疇。研討會中提出其中一個重要討論，面對男士的問題不能只局限從個人的溝通技巧著手，而必須要理解爲傳統性別角色定型或是性別交往結構 (structure of gender practice) 所帶來的惡果。要解決這些問題，社會服務必須要從 ⌈性別爲本實務取向⌉ (gender-based approach/practice) 入手。目的不是要發展另一套理想 ⌈好男人⌉ 模範，而是鼓勵男士多元發展，在平等的性別關係基礎上，尋求工作、家庭、個人生活等各方面的平衡發展。社會服務機構在發展男士服務方面應更著重男士之間的差異與多元性，更應關注邊緣男性社群的需要。社工訓練機構及學院應加强性別覺知的培育，推展性別教育主流化。

This paper reviews the extent to which feminist viewpoints are incorporated in NGO interventions aimed at women's development in Bangladesh by examining major feminist perspectives alongside NGO intervention strategies. Based on fieldwork experiences in four NGOs, it determines that NGOs are not following any specific feminist theory, but rather interventions are influenced by development paradigms engrossed in western feminist perspectives. The paper finds that third world feminism is more pertinent to the socioeconomic context of Bangladesh. However, this perspective is alone insufficient to bring desired change, rather the blending of feminist views may be more conducive to women development in Bangladesh. It concludes that the understanding of feminist theories is of greater importance for NGO practitioners and social workers to effectively address the issue of women's development.

Background: Subjective well being among female sex workers is less explored and only few studies talked about this complex issue. Aim: To study the subjective well being of female sex workers. Method: Based on the informed consent, seventy female sex workers were randomly selected from the study population. The PGI — General Well Being scale (Verma et al., 1983) and a semi structured socio demographic schedule were used to collect the data. Results: Major findings of the study were that half of the female sex workers fall under the age group of 27 to 36, having studied up to high school (50%), majority (90%) of them being married and were using one or other substance (72.9%). Their perception of subjective well being shows that 38.6% had good positive mental health, 35.7% had moderate mental health and about one quarter (25.7%) of the respondents had low positive mental health. High subjective well being among Pre University Course (PUC) and above educated female sex workers (M=16.88, ±4.52) was noted, whereas less was noted among the group of illiterate female sex workers (M=8.96, ±5.53). Conclusion: There is a need to address female sex workers issues beyond HIV/AIDS. The current findings open up the need for appropriate interventions.

Domestic violence in marital relationships is against the law in the People's Republic of China (hereafter "China" is used), where progressive development to address domestic violence began after the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995. In this article, domestic violence is referred to as violence against women by their male partners and the complexity of domestic violence is seen to be influenced by socio-cultural, economic, psychological, and environmental factors. Community responses to domestic violence are largely led by the "residents' committees" under the Ministry of Civil Affairs, and the All Women's Federation in China. However, literature has documented the inadequacy of these community responses to prevent and intervene on domestic violence. A feminist perspective is used to examine the prevalence and perception of domestic violence in the local context, and discusses implications for prevention and intervention work in China.