Challenging Gender Stereotypes
Male Allies Programme: Cultivating Gender Equality Advocates
The Male Allies Programme aims to empower people of all genders to lead effective conversations around gender equality and to take action for positive change. Launched in 2018, this inclusively-led programme brings together participants from diverse industries, ethnicities, and backgrounds to learn more about gender equality and inclusive leadership. Participants also become part of our growing alumni community of gender equality advocates in Hong Kong and beyond.
We aim to cultivate a community of gender equality allies with the following objectives:
Raise awareness on gender equality
Improve participants’ understanding of gender equality topics through research, education, and dialogue.
Leverage influence for policy and culture change
Create a platform for best practice exchange and collaboration to drive policy and cultural change across organisations.
Cascade change into the community
Empower participants to become gender equality advocates and create real change in their spheres of influence in and out of the workplace.
Programme Highlights
Influencer Circles are workshops where participants are grouped in smaller cross-sector groups to discuss key gender issues, led by our IC Leads – our Male Allies, who are past programme participants. These sessions are a psychologically safe space for participants to learn, ask questions and share their experiences. Previous topics include caregiving, meritocracy, and health in the workplace, among others.
The programme also consists of larger-scale engagements for participants to meet outside of their Influencer Circle sessions. To create stronger connections across the TWF community, our Cross-Programme engagements bring together participants from Male Allies and the Mentoring Programme for Women Leaders to facilitate best-practice sharing and peer learning.
We empower our allies to take action and create meaningful change in their spheres of influence through two components:
- The Internal Impact is one idea that each organisation's Male Allies team commits to doing to promote gender equality and inclusion internally. It aims to encourage participants to try implement a new initiative, big or small, as a team to deepen their knowledge of gender equality issues and generate more interest in these topics in their organisation.
- The Leadership Pledge is an individual pledge that each ally commits to. This aims to empower allies to reflect on their personal allyship journeys and role-model inclusive behaviours at work and beyond.
Benefits of joining the Programme
- Meet participants from diverse industries, ethnicities, and backgrounds.
- Deepen your understanding of gender equality and inclusion topics.
- Develop your inclusive leadership skills.
- Explore ways to advocate for gender equality in the workplace and beyond.
Testimonials
Hear from our Male Allies Programme Participants
The Male Allies Programme has been instrumental in terms of helping both me and my colleagues gain important knowledge and to be more proactive in relation to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) topics within the firm. It also provides a unique opportunity to meet and learn from other organisations and to hear their perspectives from across industries, including legal, accounting, construction, and transportation.
My three-year journey with TWF's Male Allies Programme—evolving from participant to Influencer Circle Lead—has been transformative. The programme creates a safe space for participants to engage with gender equality while building knowledge on topics such as manbox, privilege and identities, intersectionality, health in the workplace and active allyship through its three-stage continuum – empowering oneself, others, and change.
This programme equipped me with tools to develop an inclusive mindset. The interactive sessions foster connections that extend beyond the programme itself. Despite changing DEI landscapes, supporting underrepresented groups remains essential to workplace culture and community wellbeing.
TWF's approach and resources helped me understand that gender equality requires continuous collective effort. I look forward to furthering this work through other TWF initiatives like Young Allies and Mentoring programmes, guiding the younger generation toward creating equitable environments where everyone can thrive.
Impact
Male and female allies have used their collective influence to advance gender equality since 2018. Beyond individual impact, many organisations leverage learning from Male Allies to create wider organisational impact.
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
No. Though the Programme is called ‘Male Allies’, we aim to empower people of all genders to lead effective conversations around gender equality and to take action for positive change.
Every year, this nine-month programme starts in October and ends in June. Participants are encouraged to join for 2 cycles of the programme, after which they become part of our growing alumni community.
The total time commitment is 15 hours across the nine-month programme, equivalent to approximately 1.5 hours per month.
The Male Allies Programme is open to organisations that participate as Partners. We are grateful to all our partners for their generous support of the Programme over the years. If you would like to find out more about how to become a Partner to join the programme, please get in touch at pipeline pipeline@twfhk.org.
For any other queries, please contact maleallies@twfhk.org.
Male Allies Leadership Council
We are grateful for the advice and support of our Male Allies Leadership Council Members, including:
Andrew Chey
Managing Director
Credit Agricole
Bosco Leung
Head of Social Responsibility, Environmental & Social Responsibility Department
MTR
Byron Phillips
Partner, Hogan Lovells Cadwalader
MALC co-chair
Claire Goodchild
Counsellor Trainee, Central Minds
TWF Board Member
Janet Wang
Senior Corporate Responsibility Advisor
Linklaters
Jason Lui
Managing Director, BNP Paribas
MALC co-chair
Merissa Quek
Director
Bank of America
Raymond Leung
General Manager Strategy Planning
HAECO
Samuel Ma
Head of Account Management
JLL
Stuart Gietel-Basten
Professor and Associate Dean
HKUST
Tristan Strobl
Compliance
Morgan Stanley
Please get in touch at pipeline@twfhk.org if you would like to find out more about how to become a Corporate Partner.
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