As Hong Kong gears up to play host to the likes of Arkady Dvorkovich, Ben Bernanke and Peter Brabeck-Letmathe at next week's Asia Financial Forum which will bring together some of the most influential members of the global financial and business community, we note there is just one woman – Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz from Malaysia – speaking on the first day of the summit alongside 33 men across the 8 opening, plenary and panel sessions. The overall gender balance is a little better on Day 2 largely because of the 7 women featuring in the Women as Change Agents, Innovators and Entrepreneurs Workshop but 5 out of the 8 sessions on Day 2 still have all-male speakers.

Of course, in this, the AFF is not alone. Sadly, women are under-represented at too many high-profile conferences and events around the world when it comes to keynote speakers and panelists.

At TWF, we believe gender balance in important debates and public discussion is good for women, good for men, and good for business because more perspectives improve the quality of the conversation. Moreover, when visible role models are male, the absence of women perpetuates the absence of women. Speaking at conferences is also a helpful way for women to build their profiles and gain recognition.

So, for anyone looking for a(nother) New Year's Resolution, we have a suggestion for you which is that in the coming year, if you are invited to speak at or sponsor a panel or conference, be proactive about asking who the other speakers are and if there are no or very few women – don’t let the moment pass! Point this out and ask what the organisers are doing to ensure women are represented. You can also offer ideas for women speakers from within your organisation or network and in the last resort, you can point them in TWF's direction - we would be happy to help them identify more female speakers!

Just to show, TWF is practising what we preach - our keynote speaker for this year's TWF IWD Lunch on March 4 is Jackson Katz – the internationally renowned American educator, author, filmmaker and cultural theorist, a key architect of the “Bystander” approach to limiting violence against women and popular TED presenter. We very much hope that at least 50% (ha!) of our attendees at this year's lunch will be men. This is a wonderful opportunity to engage male managers and colleagues in a celebration of International Women’s Day and a discussion of what men can do to champion gender equality! To reserve a table or tickets, please click here.