In response, the HKU Women’s Studies Research Centre and staff concern group, HKU Vigilance, issued a joint statement saying “[We] are surprised and disappointed at the composition of the search committee.” The all-male body appears to contradict a new policy announced last October that “at least 30 per cent of the voting members or at least two voting members of [a] search or selection committee should be female.” In April 2015, HKU became one of the first universities in the world to join the UN Women’s HeForShe campaign. The adoption of the policy last October to ensure gender balance on all select and search committees was one of several measures taken as part of the initiative. The groups are now demanding HKU’s governing council redress the gender imbalance by appointing two female members to the search committee. They also requested that the committee be instructed to consider suitable female candidates for the vacancy.

At TWF, we hope the university will do the right thing - i.e., acknowledge and address the oversight. We also hope other institutions are taking note.

On a similar theme, a big thank you to Neil Atkinson of BNY Mellon and a TWF Male Ally for drawing our attention to this article by Bloomberg on “How Women Should Respond To All Male Panels”.  

Denying women opportunities to present at professional conferences prevents them from gaining visibility in their fields, and it deprives their colleagues of valuable perspectives. So in 2013, Rebecca J. Rosen proposed a solution in The Atlantic: Men should refuse to speak on all- male panels. If all men did this, of course, it would immediately solve the problem. The idea is taking off: All of our TWF Male Allies have committed to prompting conference organisers to find more women if they are invited to speak at an event which doesn’t have a gender balance in its speaker line-up. A pledge posted online by a development economist in London now has over 1,100 signatures from male academics, researchers and NGO representatives, and nearly 100 men who work on peace and security issues at high-profile organizations have signed a similar pledge on the website manpanels.org.

But how should women respond to all-male panels? Boycotting them doesn’t make sense because women need professional development opportunities to advance in their fields. According to Kara Alaimo of Bloomberg, “it’s unlikely that many of the organisations hosting all- male panels have bad intentions. They’re probably just oblivious. That’s why raising awareness is the best solution”. She proposes that women attend all-male panels to take advantage of the opportunities and tweet photos of the events using the hashtag “#WhereAreTheWomen?” One blog, Congrats! You Have an All-Male Panel!, features user- submitted photos in an ever-expanding wall of shame. As Kara says, “If we all started asking “Where are the women?” at professional events, I bet organisers and sponsors would be doing the same in record time.”

At the end of the day, it’s up to each of us to take the trouble to speak up, raise awareness and canvass for a different status quo. As former Australian Army Chief David Morrison said, “The standard you walk by is the standard you accept”.