ABSTRACT
In order to understand the transformation of gender dynamics in the walled villages, it is important to look into the 1992–1994 indigenous women’s inheritance movement, which instigated a remarkable turning point in the history of the walled village, and challenged the customary patriarchal and patrilineal practices. It is even more remarkable because it began with a group of barely educated walled-village women who were themselves being deprived of their rights to live and to hold on to their families’ premises. The result, a victory over the century-old inheritance law that favoured patriarchal and patrilineal practice, became a landmark in the history of the women’s rights movement in Hong Kong and across the world. This chapter outlines the events leading up to the forming of the inheritance movement. It analyses the nature of the 1992–1994 movement and the political involvement of external interests, especially of urbanites, in order to engage in a critical gendered analysis of the motives and interests promoting the 1994 reform and the subsequent lack of interest. The chapter will open with the stories of the major walled-village women activists and document how their frustrations and discontentment led to the 1992–1994 inheritance movement. This chapter will also discuss the legal and social implications of overturning the century-old law. For example, passing the law has not substantially improved women’s position in relation to exercising their land and property rights because of the ingrained patriarchal customary practices and another law that allows only men to erect houses in their villages. But the new law has its statutory purpose and this chapter will also explain why this statutory purpose is important for protecting walled-village women, who were once treated as ‘others’ in their natal villages.
