Gender inequality is alive and kicking in Hong Kong’s technology sector with industry experts calling the government's lack of focus a large contributor.
A carefully curated panel of two male and two female experts, speaking on the second day of the annual Cloud Expo Asia event in Hong Kong, discussed May 17 the problems and possible solutions related to the lack of female representation across different facets of the domestic technology industry.
The panel at Cloud Expo AsiaSource: S&P Global Market Intelligence |
There have been several explanations as to why the percentage of women in a tech workplace are so low.
Last August, a Google Inc. software engineer wrote a memo blaming biological differences for the gender imbalance in the industry. He cited women’s lower threshold for stress as one difference. The Google engineer was dismissed soon after.
Indeed in Hong Kong, currently only 20% of the information and communications technology, or ICT, industry are women, according to Candy Liu, the general manager of HKC Technology Ltd. and vice chairperson of nonprofit organization Hong Kong Computer Society's IT women-only club, FACE. Less than 5% of women sit on the board of ICT-related companies, she told the crowd.
Panelists said the Hong Kong government has a larger role to play in balancing the city’s opportunities for all genders, singling out two areas where it needs to be more proactive: talent and education.
With an average of roughly 2,200 IT graduates in Hong Kong entering the market yearly and numerous rounds of layoffs at IT and technology departments across industries, Leonard Chan, CEO of the Hong Kong Computer Society, said tackling the gender issue will be easier when the city's shallow talent pool of IT specialists is filled.
"When we have an influx of talent, Hong Kong’s diversity will improve," Chan said in a nearly empty conference room.
The diversity session was evidently not the hottest topic at the two-day event in Hong Kong, as a rough estimate of the number of attendants was less than 15 — a stark difference to the other discussions that drew in a swarm of delegates.
Nevertheless, Kathy Yao, a senior director at Oracle Corp.'s APAC graduate and leadership program, said the city’s low female technology talent numbers can change if women "upskill" themselves as this will increase their chances of securing a role in the IT sector.
Yao referred to her personal journey as an example, whereby she decided to pursue an MBA in IT in order to combine her technology and business expertise and remain relevant.
Syed Musheer Ahmed, the interim general manager of the FinTech Association of Hong Kong, agreed, pointing to the need to look at "why the percentage of girls and women in science, engineering and math [STEM] are so low" when trying to increase the number of women in ICT.
Both Hong Kong-specific and global research shows that the reason for male dominance in STEM disciplines is the stereotypes that are reinforced at home and in school where role models are far and few, Liu added.
Male dominance in the STEM fields is clear in Hong Kong. The female representation in the physics departments of the University of Hong Kong and Chinese University of Hong Kong is less than 15%, according to a 2017 report from the South China Morning Post. When looking at lower levels of education, the gender ratio of students enrolled in sciences at government-funded tertiary institutions remain at 65 males to 35 females, Hong Kong's census data from 1997-2015 shows, according to the report.
However, in light of recent announcements at both governmental and institutional levels, the panelists were optimistic about Hong Kong's future and closing the gender gap in the technology and IT industry.
Chan pointed to the government’s three-year pilot scheme, TechTAS, which was announced this year to fast-track arrangements for technology companies and institutions to admit overseas and Mainland technology talent. He believes the initiative, which will start receiving quota applications in June 2018, will "help put Hong Kong on track to reach its diversity goals."
Yao added that Oracle APAC has set a goal of ensuring that over 30% of its leadership sales positions will be filled by women by 2020. Similarly, the FinTech Association of Hong Kong aims to increase the number of women in fintech-related roles in the city to 40%, Ahmed concluded.

The panel at Cloud Expo Asia