Opinion | International Women’s Day: how gender diversity at the top can give corporate Hong Kong a competitive edge

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

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A woman walks past a reflection of the skyline of Hong Kong’s central business district on May 8, 2019. 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. Photo: AFP

Published: 4:00pm, 7 Mar 2020Updated: 4:20pm, 8 Mar 2020

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.

The Fearless Girl, a sculpture by artist Kristen Visbal, faces the famous sculpture of the charging bull in Lower Manhattan, New York, in March 2017. A 2018 report by McKinsey’s found that companies in the top quarter for gender diversity on their executive teams are 21 per cent more likely to experience above-average profitability. Photo: EPA

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.