The #MyRealCareerLine campaign combats discrimination against women

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Rita Ching and Su-Mei Thompson of The Women's Foundation (Photo: Courtesy of The Women's Foundation)

Women’s bodies are all too often the centre of unwanted attention, and this week’s controversy surrounding Emma Watson’s underboob display in Vanity Fair is a case in point.

In Hong Kong,  a woman's breasts (and the depth of her cleavage) is often used to correlate to how successful she'll be in the workplace, through a term that literally translates to "career line" (事業線).

According to a survey of 1,000 male and female Hong Kong citizens by Edelman Intelligence, 40 percent of respondents said that women are routinely the subject of inappropriate comments on their body parts, and 62 percent of women feel discriminated against at work based on their looks.

What's more—20 percent of men under 30 actually believe the term “career line” to be positive (how is this possible?).  

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TWF CEO Su-Mei Thompson speaks at the campaign's launch (Photo: Courtesy of The Women's Foundation)

To fight this term, The Women’s Foundation’s (TWF) has launched a new social media campaign called #MyRealCareerLine to coincide with International Women’s Day.

See also: Su-Mei Thompson on the Alarming Factor Impacting Women’s Lives

The campaign hopes to tackle casual sexism in everyday language by asking women—and men—to celebrate real female talent and capabilities, instead of their physical assets.  

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Well-known personalities supporting the campaign launch (Photo: Courtesy of The Women's Foundation)

So, how can you show your support? Upload your photo onto their campaign site, which will superimpose an image of a ripped stylised cleavage, and share your picture on social media using #MyRealCareerLine. 

International Women’s Day may have come and gone, but this campaign, and the idea of women being much more than their curves, are here to stay.

Watch the #MyRealCareerLine campaign video featuring a host of local Hong Kong stars:

See also: Raise A Glass To The Women Of Wine This Week

Learn more at realcareerline.hk.

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