During these times of political polarisation and fragmentation in Hong Kong, there is one thing we can find in common across partisan lines – shutting out women from politics. The future for Hong Kong parliamentary politics is definitely not female. No, Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor can’t be blamed for this one. While only 24.6 per cent of all national parliamentarians were women as of February 2019, Hong Kong has consistently fallen below that number. At the end of this legislative term, women’s representation in Hong Kong politics remains below a pathetic 17 per cent. The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women has called on Hong Kong to introduce measures to improve that number. If we don’t see more women sign up to run before the nomination period for the Legislative Council general election concludes on July 31, we are going to reach a new low instead. So far, we know four female lawmakers – two pro-establishment and two pan-democratic – will not seek re-election and will be succeeded by men. Tanya Chan and Ann Chiang Lai-wan are retiring. Helena Wong Pik-wan was ousted in the opposition primaries held earlier this month, when traditional pro-democratic parties lost ground to radicals and localists. The irony is that Wong is a political scientist who has researched the women’s movement and political participation but has ended up sidelined. Eunice Yung Hoi-yan’s abrupt end to her political career is one for the books. She single-handedly turned the frequently cited adage that women never get married or pregnant during their time in Hong Kong’s legislature on its head. She got married and had two daughters while in office, proving that women can indeed lean all the way in. Even so, Yung pulled out of her party’s primary earlier this year, feeling ostracised by a system she claimed to be stacked against her in favour of an outsider. Whether the fact the outsider happened to be a man played a role, we’ll never know. Some speculate she stepped aside for her husband, who is expected to run for the first time under James Tien Pei-chun’s centrist “Hope Alliance” banner. Whatever the reason behind Yung’s decision not to seek re-election, her opting out sends a disempowering message for women in public life. Aside from the District Council (Second) “super seats”, the functional constituencies have by far proven to be the most disadvantageous for women. Forget glass ceilings – these seats are protected by Teflon ceilings. Ever since the Liberal Party ran out of female candidates, these seats have become testosterone constituencies – a final frontier for women. While we might expect more women in the geographical constituencies, there are districts that stand out as total eyesores with “men only” lists. The worst has to be Kowloon East, where at the time of writing the six contesting lists had zero women. The largest political party , the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, is led by a woman. Nevertheless, incredibly, it is fielding four male-only lists out of seven in the geographical constituencies. That women hold 40 per cent of the party’s district council seats has somehow slipped their minds. It’s astonishing that only one geographical constituency list is headed by a woman. Tien, the Liberal Party honorary chairman, and former Financial Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah’s “Hope Alliance” is expected to field three male candidates, which doesn’t leave much hope for Hong Kong. It’s just contributing to the gender power gap. Why gender equality makes good economic sense Women in this city hold up more than half the sky, and evidence around the world has revealed that women have shown political leadership by working across party lines even in the most politically combative environments. The system is stacked against women in so many ways and on so many levels. Every political actor contributes to the underrepresentation of women in power in Hong Kong and it is shameful, impoverishing our public life. Alice Wu is a political consultant and a former associate director of the Asia Pacific Media Network at UCLA