The fifth United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 5) aims to promote gender equality and women’s rights. With the influence of the traditional mindset, women were asked to take care of families while all the roles in factories and offices were led by men. During the time of World War I, women started replacing men’s roles in factories as men were sent to war. In 1918, there were approximately one million women employed in military factories, accounting for almost two-thirds of all working women. Most of them were suffering from illness and over 400 people were died due to chemical exposure in the production of artillery bombs. 

In Hong Kong, many of the middle to high-level positions are held by women. However, amongst all the local listed companies, the composition of females on the board is still a low percentage. The latest review of the corporate governance code by the HKEX also stresses gender diversity in the boardroom and that a certain gender ratio is stipulated in the formation of the board.

Learn more from the full article (in Chinese only) written by Kenny Siu, Senior Advisor of AEC Group, published on Sing Pao on 28 March.