As we come to the end of 2024, we are humbled by the impact we have been able to make together to improve the lives of women and girls in Hong Kong.
Here are four highlights:
Strengthening the pipeline of women in STEM: Over 3,400 underserved secondary school girls and their teachers have benefitted from our Girls Go Tech (GGT) Programme since 2015, and it continues to thrive. This year, we focused on increased opportunities for interactions between different stakeholders which are vital to creating the conditions for girls to pursue STEM long-term. For example, our interschool event brought together teachers, students, parents, schools and corporates where they shared their views on challenges, opportunities and best practice. We also incorporated more empowerment principles and gender elements into the Programme including gender-focused English for STEM tutorials and self-nominations for the GGT Participant Advisory Group, reflecting the Programme’s commitment to empowering girls in STEM whilst also nurturing their leadership skills and promoting their voices.
Empowering allies and advocates for change: We are proud of the ways in which our programme participants promote gender equal mindsets and behaviours in their professional and personal communities, including those on our Mentoring Programme, Male Allies, Young Allies and alumni. This year, we completed our first cycle of the Young Allies Programme, which engages male university students to become champions of gender equality. We are proud of the way in which these young men, under the guidance of their Male Ally mentors, engaged in meaningful conversations about masculinity, privilege and allyship.
Enhancing the visibility of senior women through our Women to Watch Platform: TWF and the 30% Club Hong Kong launched a Women to Watch Platform which connects senior women leaders with opportunities to become directors of Hong Kong companies. The Platform gives visibility to top female talent in Hong Kong, and is an answer to the HKEX no-single gender board mandate by end of 2024. It serves as a valuable resource to boards seeking to increase their diversity, align with corporate governance best practice and capture the benefits of a broader range of perspectives.
Bringing communities together for action in our 20th Anniversary Summit: From new frameworks to consider masculinities and ways to engage in challenging conversations at home to expanding our views on caregiving roles and taking a critical look at how we can disrupt current narratives around age, race, and sexuality, we brought nearly 300 individuals from diverse backgrounds together to foster conversations and actions on gender equality. We are confident our Summit served as a foundational step towards strengthening the ecosystem and harnessing the transformative power of gender equality for Hong Kong.
This is just a small snapshot of the broad range of work we have been able to accomplish in 2024.
We are greatly privileged to have such a dedicated, talented and generous community of partners, supporters and donors. We will together continue to break barriers and be an unstoppable force for equality. We look forward to our continued work together to build an equal, inclusive Hong Kong in 2025.
PS Connect is going on winter break – we look forward to being back on January 8!
Get in touch: Fiona.Nott@twfhk.org