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International Women's Dayi

International Women's Day is marked on the 8th of March every year. The first observance of the Women's Day was in 1909 in New York as a remembrance of the 1908 strike of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union, but evolved through later years into a day marking protests for equal rights, specifically women's right to vote in elections and hold public office. In 1949 the People's Republic of China declared March 8 an official holiday; in 1977 the United Nations declared March 8 to be the UN Day for Women's Rights and World Peace.

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International Women’s Day is time to reflect on how the pandemic has placed greater responsibility on their shoulders both at work and home, and the Hong Kong measures that have made some lives a little easier.

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  • Asia’s resurgence post-Covid is creating a new generation of women-led businesses, prompting governments to consider how to establish a more inclusive economy
  • Funding woes, work-life balance and prejudice remain hurdles for women entrepreneurs, who say having supportive business partners and spouses can be half the battle won
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Ahead of International Women’s Day, delegates at this week’s ‘two sessions’ parliamentary gatherings call for reproductive reforms and highlight problems that remain prevalent in China’s rural areas.

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Senior female business leadership in the Asia-Pacific region has been shrinking this year and is lagging behind other parts of the world, with the lack of flexible working in the post-Covid era posing a hindrance to gender parity, Grant Thornton says.

The ratio of ultra-rich women stood at 11 per cent of the global total last year, compared with 6.5 per cent in 2010, as changing attitudes towards women doing business has led to a large number of self-made female multimillionaires, according to a survey by Julius Baer.

On International Women’s Day, readers discuss the need to better support women as they move up the career ladder, migrant domestic workers’ efforts to create a more inclusive city, and the Hong Kong government’s baby bonus.

Barcelona’s World Cup-winning midfielder Aitana Bonmati says ‘a lot of changes’ are needed to achieve equality, urging football ‘to invest in us, and give us the opportunity’.

Hong Kong-listed firms have seen a notable rise of female representation on boards driven by regulation, but they still lag regional peers when it comes to women in key executive roles, according to MSCI.

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Night walks for women by women in the Indian city of Bangalore are allowing groups to tread fearlessly on the most chaotic streets where alone the risk of harassment would be high.

In this edition of the Global Impact newsletter, we look back at Women’s History Month, while the Post’s Women of Our Time conference took place a day before International Women’s Day on March 8.

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Lunar was at the Women Of Our Time conference this week, where a diverse group of speakers discussed issues related to women in finance, tech and entrepreneurship.

Hong Kong-listed companies must improve the diversity of their boards by implementing policies to encourage gender neutral hiring, offering training to nurture female talent and facilitating networking and mentoring, a panel discussion has heard.

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Many protests included calls for solidarity with women in Iran and Afghanistan where their freedoms have faced especially hard blows in the past year.

Angelle Siyang-le, director of Art Basel Hong Kong and a mother of two, talks about the importance of ‘soft’ power, communication and how it is OK to be bubbly.

Just 848, or 5.7 per cent, of 15,000 private businesses surveyed by JPMorgan across multiple sectors were founded or led by women. Those companies, however, excelled at fundraising.

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Women, even those who hold powerful positions at work are still seen by much of society as primary carers, while men are stigmatised for taking time off to take care of family members.

Ahead of International Women’s Day, Alia Eyres, CEO of Mother’s Choice, a charity helping pregnant teenagers in Hong Kong, talks about the importance of empowering them to make the right choices about their future.

Global progress on women’s rights is ‘vanishing before our eyes,’ UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned ahead of International Women’s Day.

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