Opinion | Having more women on boards makes business sense. Hong Kong gets it

In this increasingly complex world, it is vital for businesses to embrace gender diversity, and diversity more broadly, for long-term success

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Bonnie Chan (third from right), then co-chief operating officer of HKEX, and other women business leaders attend an event for a gender equality campaign on March 8, 2023. Photo: May Tse

Published: 5:30am, 8 Mar 2025

Over the past few decades, there has been significant progress in gender equality globally, with more women holding parliamentary seats, fewer women living in extreme poverty and more legal reforms enacted to close the gender gap.

But, despite the progress in some areas, the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index predicts it will take the world 134 years to reach gender parity. Clearly, there is still much work to be done.

At the same time, we are seeing some markets and companies in parts of the world that had led the way in gender representation seeming to stall or even push back on their diversity commitments. But while global politics are constantly shifting, gender diversity will always make good business sense. And that is the story we are seeing emerge in Hong Kong, as we celebrate International Women’s Day this year.

Taking capital markets as an example, Hong Kong started this year with an overwhelmingly positive response to a ban on single-gender boards, with almost total compliance by the city’s more than 2,600 listed companies.

It may seem like a small requirement: just one woman per board. However, we believe this small catalyst will set the right conditions for companies in Hong Kong to experience the benefits of gender diversity first-hand. This will start them on a diversity journey, creating more directorship opportunities for women. And from the boardrooms, gender diversity will permeate the organisation and become a workplace norm.

Most importantly, these diversity journeys, though spurred by the ban, must be pursued by the companies themselves, which we believe will lead to a more sustainable and enduring, market-generated change.