- Hong Kong’s high cost of living has made two-income families the norm. The city has a child-care support system in place and is relatively open to women leaders
- Diversity in the workplace is much needed to address today’s tech disruptions, challenging macroeconomic environment and competitive market
As the head of human resources at one of Hong Kong's best-known companies, when I look for talent I look for leadership qualities first and foremost; gender is not a selection criterion. This approach has resulted in the company having a significant number of women in senior leadership positions across our business.
Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX) is a conduit for capital, a key link between globally important economies and markets. Hong Kong's role as a global capital formation centre for both international issuers and suppliers of capital is based on its diversity and the business strengths which that creates. Diversity in culture, attitude and jurisdiction goes hand in hand with gender diversity.
Hong Kong is already a champion of diversity, a melting pot of East and West, and local conditions are conducive for even greater diversity, particularly in terms of women taking senior roles in the professional and financial industries.
We need to grasp these opportunities to maintain our position and leverage our competitive advantages, because diversity, from the mail room up to the boardroom, is a proven winning business strategy.
I am proud of how HKEX is setting an example on gender diversity. More than 40 per cent of our vice-presidents and senior vice-presidents are women, and 38 per cent of our management committee members are women, up from 17 per cent a year ago. Our heads of listing and post-trade, general counsel, chief financial officer, chief communications officer, and chairperson of our board are all women.
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We also know that we are in an important position to influence others, and we have introduced rules that encourage companies that list on the stock exchange of Hong Kong to address gender diversity in their own organisations.
Hong Kong is near the top of US fund research firm Morningstar's global gender diversity rankings for fund managers and chartered financial analysts, well ahead of Britain and the US.
There is still much that can be done to encourage greater diversity in our business community, but Hong Kong already enjoys advantages over other financial centres when it comes to attracting women to senior leadership roles.
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Although Hong Kong, in many ways, remains a conservative Asian society, it does not suffer from the deeply ingrained legacies of systematic discrimination against women present in some other cultures. Rather than face a high level of negative bias in society, Hong Kong women are already accepted as leaders in local business, community and politics.
In many homes, cultural reservations over women in corporate careers have been wiped away by economic reality " most middle-class Hong Kong families can't dream of buying a home without two full-time incomes.
Families in Hong Kong also enjoy access to more affordable child care than is available in many other financial centres. Whether families benefit from overseas domestic helpers or fully deploy grandparents, the cultural norm in Hong Kong is that both women and men enjoy adaptable and affordable child-raising support compared with families in the West.
Hong Kong has a well-deserved international reputation for its can-do attitude and low business barriers. While this is often cited in terms of taxation and business registration, it is also a very prevalent social factor.
There's a reason that we all know someone who came to Hong Kong with empty pockets and made a fortune in the shadow of Lion Rock. Hong Kong is exceptionally welcoming of ambition, self-confidence and aspiration. Some cultures resent the success of others but, in Hong Kong, we celebrate it, no matter whether you're a man or a woman.
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Today's technological disruptions, macroeconomic uncertainty and increasing competition create demand for the new ideas and fresh leadership that can be found in diversity.
My message to women who want to advance their careers in Hong Kong is that they don't need to wait to be empowered " just do it. You don't need to ask for permission. The conditions are right, and Hong Kong needs you to step up and lead.
Eva Chau is group head of human resources at Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited
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