Plug pulled on IT beauty contest in Hong Kong amid sexism storm
Showcase for ‘outstanding women’ in the sector required contestants to detail their vital statistics and provide photographs
The organiser insists the idea of an IT beauty pageant was to showcase “outstanding women” in the profession, but a closer look at the application form reveals a greater emphasis on their vital statistics than vital tech skills.
Contestants also had to supply photographs and be willing to appear in “designated clothes”.
A furious backlash at the “sexist” contest has forced the Hong Kong Information Technology Joint Council to beat a hasty retreat and scrap the event.
The council started taking applications from Monday for its “Hong Kong IT Goddess Pageant 2016”, stating on its website that the aim was to attract more women into the sector and show it was not just dominated by men.
The fine print in the application form also stated that the council had the right to request contestants to wear “designated clothes” for the competition.
“If the HKITJC wants to promote women in tech, I’d suggest they do so intelligently. The focus on ‘external beauty’ undermines the hard work and ingenuity of all the brilliant women in tech. This is definitely a new low and a step backwards for diversity in the industry,” Catherine Tan, founder of Hong Kong-based start-up Notey, said.
Notey runs a search and discovery platform for blog posts, and half of its team are women.
I don’t see how an IT pageant can empower other women to pursue their passion in IT
Natalie Lung, an organiser of the University of Hong Kong’s Girls4Tech event, which aims to get more female secondary school pupils interested in technology, called the event “sexist”.
“Pageants have come under much criticism for imposing unrealistic beauty standards on girls, making them feel insecure about their bodies from a young age,” Lung said. “I don’t see how an IT pageant can empower other women to pursue their passion in IT, let alone promote women’s status in technology when they are judged on everything but their tech skills.”
As in most parts of the world, women working in the Hong Kong technology and IT fields are a rare breed, even though the first computer programmer is widely considered to be an English woman by the name of Ada Lovelace.
Statistics from the Education Bureau showed that women made up 33 per cent of the first-year undergraduate intake for science, technology and engineering and maths (STEM) degrees in 2014, down from 34 per cent in 2013.
When the Post contacted the council it reiterated in a statement that the original aim was to raise public awareness about “women and computing”.
“We have not in any sense intended to offend women, who have contributed tremendously to the information and communications technology (ICT) sector in Hong Kong,” the council said, adding that the pageant would be postponed with immediate effect in lieu of the concerns raised by the Post and the public.
The link to the event page for the IT pageant is now invalid and the council has removed a Facebook post from its page promoting the event.
