With the restoration of cross border travel and increased ease of travelling overseas, we hope you enjoyed the holiday period with family and friends, and feel energised and hopeful about the year ahead.

Whilst we have seen a moderate uptick in the percentage of women directors on HSI-listed boards and an overall reduction in the gender pay gap, women and girls are still facing many deeply concerning issues that are impacting their current and future quality of life, including pervasive sexual violence, persistent gender biases and stereotypes, disproportionate caregiving responsibilities, and greater financial vulnerability, among many others. These challenges are often more severe for women and girls who also face challenges due to their race, sexual orientation, ability, socio-economic background or other factors.

To address these issues, TWF has chosen two words of intention rather than resolutions to underscore how we plan to approach our work. Our first intention is to adopt an expansive lens– to recognise the evolving nature of gender issues and to further our reach and impact through new initiatives and entering into new spaces. We also aspire to be expansive in our collaborations, and to create wider ripples of connection, allyship and influence within our community. Our second intention is to be daring. The act of imagining a gender equal city and world is a repeated act of daring – of non-conformity, of disregard for the status quo. It requires persistence, long term commitment, new thinking and a multi-pronged, action-oriented approach. We intend to incorporate all of these elements in our work ahead.

Under this framework of expansiveness and daring, TWF will be focusing on the following areas:

• Advocating for critical reforms that are critical to creating the necessary foundation to bring about gender equality including greater protections and preventative measures around all forms of sexual and domestic violence, and stronger protections for vulnerable groups of women and girls, among many others.
• Equipping underprivileged students with the skills they need to thrive through our STEM-focused Girls Go Tech Programme and related university scholarship scheme as well as our #TEENForGood Initiative to support the learning needs of unprivileged students at risk of falling behind academically.
• Fostering a community of inclusive leaders who tackle gender inequality in the workplace and champion gender equality in the community through our suite of Pipeline Initiatives: Mentoring Programme for Women Leaders, Male Allies, Boardroom Series for Women Leaders, Reverse Mentoring and the 30% Club Hong Kong.
• Reinforcing the benefits of gender equality for people of all genders through our continued work with our Male Allies, the launch of our Young Allies Initiative targeting university-age men, and our continued efforts to integrate and address intersectional identities and challenges in our programme curricula, research, advocacy and communications.
• Facilitating connections between businesses, institutions, schools, universities, NGOs, families and individuals for greater impact and contribute towards building an ecosystem that supports gender equality.

These goals are ambitious and we can’t achieve them alone. With the commitment and support from our incredible network of partners, donors, supporters and other stakeholders, we are confident that we can collectively make an impact and cultivate a city that dares to be gender equal.

Get in touch at Fiona.Nott@twfhk.org.

PS. TWF will be taking a break for Lunar New Year and will be back on February 8. We wish you and your loved ones health, happiness and prosperity in the Year of the Rabbit!