Some context: Native women in Hong Kong used to be situated within the context of Chinese family and society, in which they were treated the same as Mainland women or Taiwanese women. Under the traditional Chinese patriarchy structure, the society was male-dominated, and women had a relatively subordinate familial role. However, there are cultural differences between Mainland Chinese citizens and citizens of Hong Kong. During the British colonial period the emergence of Western culture (i.e. "Westernization") created a mix of traditional Chinese culture and Western values.
Women were in the workforce as early as the 1920s, but the small population of them often had to fight vigorously for equality of work rights. With the shift of Hong Kong's economy from manufacturing industry to services industry since the 1980s, there is a growing demand for white collar workers. Abundant job opportunities are hence available for both men and women. Employment in Hong Kong can be enjoyed by women, who possess rights, such as maternity protection and sick leave. Nevertheless, women in Hong Kong are aware of the difficulties they face in being a woman in the workforce. For example, when surveyed, both men and women working in Hong Kong stated that they preferred to have a male supervisor over a woman supervisor.  In 2016, there are 49.3% females and 50.8% males in the employed population. In spite of the open-minded and relatively westernised culture in Hong Kong, the seemingly equal and fair workplace still poses obstacles on the way of women's career paths. 61.8% of females and 51.6% of males agreed that women have to sacrifice more than men for career success. Interestingly, 72.1% of females agreed that an increasing number of successful women is a positive social phenomenon, while only 59.6% of males shared the same view. The data showed that men, having the invisible privilege obtained from unequal gender perceptions, are content with the current situation and are slightly reluctant to the rising status of women, which might pose a threat to their career prospects.  The Hong Kong media clearly reflects the social stereotypes and norms. Performers of authority roles are mostly men, with commentaries and voice overs mainly heard in male voices as well, whereas women are chiefly depicted in domestic roles and gender-specific professions, for example, secretaries and nurses.  Despite the high education level and prospective vision women possess, it is uncommon to see women working on Hong Kong corporate boards and in senior management roles. Women account for only 11% of total director pool of Hong Kong's listed issuers and 33% of senior management roles, while the number of female participating in the labor force, which is 54% of the entire female population, lags behind many developed countries (67.6% in the US and 71% in the UK). The number of women in politics is also worryingly small. In the legislative council, there are only 12 female members among the 70 elected members. Comparing to 10 female members among the 60 elected members in 1998, women are clearly under-represented in the legislative stage of the city and such inadequacy will lead to prolonged suppression in women's rights and gender inequality.
What are some of the career obstacles that women there face?
A: Despite the high education level and prospective vision women possess, it is uncommon to see women working on Hong Kong corporate boards and in senior management roles.
Some context: Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO) is a Japanese electronic music band formed in Tokyo in 1978 by Haruomi Hosono (bass, keyboards, vocals), Yukihiro Takahashi (drums, lead vocals) and Ryuichi Sakamoto (keyboards, vocals). The group is considered influential and innovative in the field of popular electronic music. They were pioneers in their use of synthesizers, samplers, sequencers, drum machines, computers, and digital recording technology in popular music, and effectively anticipated the "electropop boom" of the 1980s while exploring subversive sociopolitical themes throughout their career. YMO was initially conceived by Hosono as a one-off exploration of computerized exotica and parody of Western conceptions of the orient.
Prior to the group's formation, Sakamoto had been experimenting with electronic music equipment at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, which he entered in 1970, including synthesizers such as the Buchla, Moog, and ARP. Hosono, following the break-up of his band Happy End in 1972, became involved in the recording of several early electronic rock records, including Yosui Inoue's folk pop rock album Kori no Sekai (1973) and Osamu Kitajima's progressive psychedelic rock album Benzaiten (1974), both of which utilized synthesizers, electric guitars, electric bass, and in the latter, electronic drums and rhythm machines. Also around the same time, the band's future "fourth member" Hideki Matsutake was the assistant for the internationally successful electronic musician Isao Tomita. Much of the methods and techniques developed by both Tomita and Matsutake during the early 1970s would later be employed by Yellow Magic Orchestra.  Sakamoto first worked with Hosono as a member of his live band in 1976, while Yukihiro Takahashi recruited Sakamoto to produce his debut solo recording in 1977 following the split of the Sadistic Mika Band. Hosono invited both to work on his exotica-flavoured album Paraiso, which included electronic songs produced using various electronic equipment. The band was named "Harry Hosono and the Yellow Magic Band" as a satire of Japan's obsession with black magic at the time, and in late 1977 they began recording Paraiso, which was released in 1978. The three worked together again for the 1978 album Pacific, which included an early version of the song "Cosmic Surfin". Hosono and Sakamoto also worked together alongside Hideki Matsutake in early 1978 for Hosono's experimental "electro-exotica" fusion album Cochin Moon, which fused electronic music with Indian music, including an early "synth raga" song "Hum Ghar Sajan". The same year, Sakamoto released his own solo album, The Thousand Knives of Ryuichi Sakamoto, experimenting with a similar fusion between electronic music and traditional Japanese music in early 1978. Hosono also contributed to one of Sakamoto's songs, "Thousand Knives", in the album. Thousand Knives was also notable for its early use of the microprocessor-based Roland MC-8 Microcomposer music sequencer, with Matsutake as its music programmer for the album.  While Sakamoto was working on Thousand Knives, Hosono began formulating the idea of an instrumental disco band which could have the potential to reach success in non-Japanese-language territories, and invited Tasuo Hayashi of Tin Pan Alley and Hiroshi Sato of Uncle Buck as participants, but they declined. Hosono, Sakamoto and Takahashi eventually collaborated again to form the Yellow Magic Orchestra and they began recording their self-titled album at a Shibaura studio in July 1978. The band was initially conceived as a one-off studio project by Hosono, the other two members being recruited session musicians--the idea was to produce an album fusing orientalist exotica with modern electronics, as a subversion of Orientalism and exoticization.
when did they first form?
A:
July 1978. The band was initially conceived as a one-off studio project by Hosono,