TWF 2021 Annual Report

Fiona Nott CEO, The Women’s Foundation

Message from the CEO

Dear TWF Friends,

2021 was Hong Kong’s second year into the pandemic and we were humbled by everything we were able to accomplish with all of you under challenging circumstances.

While we continued with our busy calendar of ongoing programmes and initiatives, the immediate needs of the community stayed top of mind. To this end, we launched #TEENForGood -- an online tutoring initiative to support the learning needs of unprivileged students at risk of falling behind academically due to the pandemic led by our university-age T.E.E.N. Programme ‘graduates’, providing them with a helpful source of financial support and the opportunity to give back to the community. The feedback was positive from students, teachers and parents alike so we are expanding the initiative in 2022.

We also launched our long-awaited research on Young Men’s Masculinities in Hong Kong, the first of its kind research to understand the pressures young men face on their path to masculine success and how they perceive gender roles, women’s rising status and attitudes towards changing gender relations in this city. The findings were concerning and are informing a new programme to support young men in their personal growth and development by providing gender awareness workshops and mentoring through a gender sensitive lens as well as a public campaign to raise awareness on the benefits of gender equality for everyone.

Together, we can make powerful change in the lives of women and girls in Hong Kong and advance gender equality for all. We look forward to all we will accomplish together in 2022.

Best,

Susan Hutchison Board Chair, The Women’s Foundation

Message from the Board Chair

Dear Friends,

Despite continued challenges under the pandemic, we have been able to break new ground and make a positive impact in the lives of women and girls in Hong Kong.

We were pleased to see key reforms from Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing that will improve board gender diversity in the short to medium term. These changes come after over a decade of advocacy from TWF and other likeminded organisations, groups and individuals, and will lead to considerable opportunities for women leaders who are qualified to become board members.

While this is a positive step towards gender parity at our most senior levels of leadership, more work remains to be done. This is why we continue to work closely with the business community through our suite of Pipeline Initiatives to enable individuals of all genders to feel equipped and inspired to be gender equality advocates in their workplaces and in the broader community.

Having more senior women as leaders filters down into the whole economy and can help contribute to wider debates on issues such as pay equity, workplace policies and other critical barriers facing women, and complement our efforts to influence change within marginalised populations as well.

On behalf of the Board, my warmest thank you to all of our supporters, donors, volunteers, who have enabled us to not simply continue our work under difficult circumstances, but to expand our reach and deepen our impact for broader change.

Best,

from our our best-inequality on to of HKEX reforms

OUR IMPACT

WHO WE ARE & WHAT WE DO

In 2004, a group of like-minded women and men identified the need for a new organisation to serve as a platform for women’s issues in Hong Kong. The Women’s Foundation was thus launched, modelled on the best similar organisations around the world. The core elements of our model can be distilled down to action based on empirical research, rigorous impact assessment and leveraging collaborations with academia, businesses, the Government and other NGOs to drive change. Today, TWF is the leading catalyst in Hong Kong for collaborative efforts to drive women’s and girls’ advancement. We aspire to conduct ground-breaking research and run impactful and innovative community programmes and we engage in education and advocacy in the pursuit of three main goals:

Challenging gender stereotypes Empowering women in poverty Advancing women leaders

OUR WORK

SOURCE OF INCOME

YEAR 2021 PROGRAMME EXPENSES

Corporate Donations

Individual Donations

Interest Income

12,000,000 9,000,000 6,000,000 3,000,000 0

Combating Gender Stereotyping Women in Poverty

Women in Leadership

Research and Advocacy

6,000,000 4,500,000 3,000,000 1,500,000 0

COMMUNITY PROGRAMMES

Our Community Programmes aim to create positive and measurable self-reliance and youth empowerment through the implementation of sustainable

COMMUNITY

measurable change for women’s economic sustainable programmes and initiatives.

GIRLS GO TECH

Launched in 2015, TWF’s Girls Go Tech (GGT) Programme aims to encourage female secondary school students from underprivileged backgrounds to pursue traditionally male-dominated STEM-related subjects to maximise their future career options. Through the Programme, participants develop skills including self-confidence, problem-solving, creativity and collaboration, to help achieve their future academic and career goals.

The Programme includes a resource sharing platform with self-learning online courses alongside real-life activities. We hope to foster interactions among GGT participants and teachers across different schools, and to create a hub for advancing STEM education by connecting various stakeholders in the community including STEM subject matter experts, teachers and corporates. GGT undergoes regular independent impact assessment.

This cycle included the addition of tutorial sessions to reinforce the skills participants learn in the courses as well as a series of Career in STEM webinars featuring female professionals in a diverse range of industries to expose them to female role models and the rich possibilities of how to apply STEM skills at work. They also had the opportunity to join GGT’s Coding Competition, working in teams to improve financial literacy among children or teens by building a game or virtual community enabling them to apply the skills they’ve learned in tangible ways. We also established a GGT Participant Advisory Group comprised of GGT participants who provide feedback and insights on shaping the next cycle’s activities and workshops.

DIGITAL LITERACY

Launched in November 2019, the Digital Literacy Programme is tailor-made for deprived parents and their daughters (senior primary students) to promote their interests in STEM and debunk negative stereotypes that STEM skills, subjects and careers are more suitable for boys.

The Programme runs in collaboration with primary schools and NGOs. Each round of training serves 20 pairs of parents and their daughters.

Due to school suspensions amid COVID-19, in-person workshops were postponed for the duration of the year. We will explore a hybrid model for the Programme in the coming year to continue to benefit families.

#TEENFORGOOD INITIATIVE

#TEENFORGOOD INITIATIVE

In February 2021, we piloted #TEENforGood to support the learning needs of unprivileged students at risk of falling behind academically due to the pandemic. Our T.E.E.N. Programme ‘graduates’ offer individual online tutoring support, which provides them with a helpful source of financial support and the opportunity to give back to the community. More broadly, this supports mothers and other family members who have taken on extra home school learning duties. Feedback has been positive from students, teachers and parents alike so we have plans to expand the initiative next year.

PIPELINE INITIATIVES

Our Pipeline Initiatives aim to increase the number of

MENTORING PROGRAMME

Through participating in TWF’s highly acclaimed bestin-class Mentoring Programme for Women Leaders, participants benefit from personal and professional development through their one-on-one, peer and group mentoring journey, which is complemented by a highly structured leadership curriculum.

Our mentors benefit from participating in training specifically designed for mentors and enhancing their mentoring, coaching and leadership skills. They build a strong and supportive network and give back to the community in a meaningful way through sharing their experience with younger women coming through the ranks whilst being recognised as a leader.

Our protégés benefit from expanding their leadership knowledge and skills through professional development training. They enhance their self-confidence, gain insights to be able to better tackle issues or challenges in the workplace and build a strong and supportive network.

We launched the thirteenth cycle in October 2021 with 100 successful female leaders across different sectors and 100 different organisations. Over the course of nine months, they have the opportunity to join 29 sessions that cover areas such as Strategic Storytelling, Effective Dialogue, and Purposeful Leadership with an emphasis on paying it forward to other women and more broadly in the community.

ALUMNI NETWORK

The Mentoring Programme Alumni Network (MPAN) enables participants to stay connected and engaged with the ever-expanding network of inspiring, accomplished and mutually supportive women who are former mentors and protégés.

MPAN includes over 1,000 members, many of whom participate in TWF Mentoring Programme Alumni Lean-In circles and other Alumni initiatives. We also distribute a monthly newsletter to participants and Alumni, to increase engagement and showcase the impact of the Mentoring Programme through the success stories of the Alumni. They are also invited to attend various events throughout the year – this year, event topics included Developing Resilience and Read the Room as well as a protégé alumni only session around Enhancing Confidence and a mentor alumni only session on Navigating Conflict.

REVERSE MENTORING

Launched in 2018, our cross-industry Reverse Mentoring Pilot programme connected our dedicated gender advocates and two of our flagship Pipeline Initiatives, the Mentoring Programme for Women Leaders and the Male Allies Initiative. With over 25 pairs participating in two pilot cycles, Reverse Mentoring at TWF enables Male Ally mentees to challenge their perspectives whilst empowering Mentoring Programme Protégé alumni to build relationships with senior leaders as mentors. Together, they collaborate on tackling systemic barriers in the workplace.

2021 was a preparatory year in which TWF planned out the official launch of the Reverse Mentoring Programme in January 2022 based on our key learnings from the pilot and sourcing global best practice.

MALE ALLIES

TWF Male Allies are business leaders who leverage their influence to advance gender equality within their organisations and across the Hong Kong business community. The Male Allies Initiative aims to normalise the conversation around gender, enabling men to continuously learn and talk about gender issues, how gender norms affect us all, and to create real change in their spheres of influence. On joining the programme, Allies receive an Individual Action Tracker to record their commitment as an advocate to affect both institutional change and hold each other accountable.

Building from the enthusiastic prior two cycles of the Male Allies Initiative, the 2021-2022 cycle of the programme included 40 corporate partners with over 200 Allies participating. In 2021, we continued to focus on enabling Male Allies to take action and on diving

deeper within their organisations to drive change, by providing a space to exchange best practices and build collaborations within their organisations, as well as workshops for hands-on training.

This cycle, we covered areas such as privilege, the positive sum game, and intersectionality and we learned from case studies on how organisations are approaching key DEI and gender equality topics such as parental leave, regional male allies networks and optimising data.

30% CLUB HONG KONG

TWF and 30% Club HK welcomed key reforms from Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing that will improve board gender diversity in the short to medium term, including that single gender boards will no longer be acceptable (with a three-year transition). These changes represent considerable opportunities for women leaders who are qualified to become board members.

Under this backdrop, we kicked-off our fourth cycle of the Boardroom Series for Women Leaders which aims to complement our flagship 30% Club Boardroom Lunch, providing a more sustained and results-focused programme for highly-qualified women. The series comprises of educational workshops and events to build the pipeline of women, connecting them to the right people and equipping them with the skills necessary to transition to the boardroom.

In 2021, we held our eighth annual Boardroom Lunch in a virtual format featuring guest panel discussions on board gender diversity, advocacy and good governance from both global and local perspectives in the context of Covid-19.

BEST PRACTICE GUIDES AND ORGANISATIONAL SCORECARD

TWF’s best practice guides (BPGs) are knowedge-sharing guides for organisational development and HR policies to ensure brighter prospects for women in the workplace. They are designed to be highly practical and draw on our birds-eye view of what leading firms are doing to attract, retain and promote more women.

In 2021, we began the process of updating our BPGs and will disseminate them to Corporate Partners in stages over the course of 2022. We also launched a Gender Equality Scorecard designed to help organisations drive change in a structured and effective way through mapping out their current state of gender equality and strategise how to move organisation forward.

GENDER EQUALITY AND INCLUSION WORKING GROUP

In November 2021, we launched our Gender Equality and Inclusion Working Group which brings together business leads, HR and DEI heads from our Advocate Level corporate partners to share key learnings, exchange best practice and discuss challenges for Hong Kong employers on addressing and progressing critical components of gender equality at work. The first session explored menopause in the context of overall talent retention, DEI strategy and employee well-being, including specific challenges for employers to address in order to support employees going through menopause. The Group exchanged successes, lessons learned and key actions for change to progress this issue at the individual and leadership level. This first cycle will then explore intersectionality, domestic violence and the future of work. This will be followed by the second cycle which will start September 2022 where the group will explore female burnout, covering topics such as microaggressions, caregiving and visibility.

RESEARCH & ADVOCACY

Independent, data-driven and evidence-based, our collaboratively produced research is utilised as a catalyst for change.

RESEARCH ADVOCACY

Independent, data-driven and evidence-based, our collaboratively produced research is utilised as a catalyst for change.

Exploring Young Men’s Masculinities in Hong Kong

First of its kind research to understand the pressures young men face on their path to masculine success and how they perceive gender roles, women’s rising status and attitudes towards changing gender relations in Hong Kong. Commissioned researchers, Dr Anita Chan from The Education University of Hong Kong and Dr Adam Cheung from the Hong Kong Baptist University, conducted a study via a series of self-administered surveys, supplemented by focus group interviews.

The results show that over 75% of the men surveyed have conservative views towards gender roles and negative perceptions of changing gender relations to varying degrees. Read the summary and full report to find out more.

RESEARCH

Engaging Men as Gender Equality Allies: Understanding the Barriers and Taking Action

This survey looks at attitudes towards gender equality, in partnership with IPSOS. Based on a bilingual 500 person survey among working adults in Hong Kong, the findings primarily focus on the male perspective as men comprise the majority representatives of senior roles across the city and without their support, significant progress toward ending gender inequality is unlikely.

The findings challenge some widely held assumptions and point to priorities for action. Read the key survey findings to learn more about the barriers and recommended actions.

ADVOCACY

Submissions

Submission to CEDAW

Response to the 2021 Policy Address Public Consultation

Response to the Sentencing and Related Matters in the Review of Sexual Offences Public Consultation

Response to the 2021-22 Budget Public Consultation

PROGRAMME TESTIMONIALS

#TEENForGood Initiative

“I moved to Hong Kong from the Mainland about four years ago and had to repeat Primary 5 due to the differences in curriculum between Hong Kong and the Mainland … Thanks for the kind arrangement from The Women’s Foundation and the tutoring of Winnie, I am now more confident in tackling school work.”

- Yuk Ying Wan, St Catharine’s School for Girls (Student Participant)

“I joined the (TEEN) Programme, when I was just in Form 2, and was struggling at school, similar to Yuk Ying now … I cherish this opportunity to practice what I have learned from the University and support the learning needs of Yuk Ying.”

- Winnie Li, T.E.E.N. Programme Alumni (Tutor)

GIRLS GO TECH PROGRAMME

“We joined the GGT Programme in 2016. Over the past five years, we have taken a variety of STEM courses and joined different events, and feel that we’ve really grown from the Programme. One of the highlights was joining the GGT Hackathon 2021 competition a few months ago where we won the Gold Award. We designed a role-playing game that blends gaming and education to help players discover the importance of saving and spending wisely. While we were building the game, we discovered how easy it is to use technology to solve our daily problems and to serve the wider community. It also helped to develop our logic and creativity which is useful for school. Apart from learning a new coding tool, one of the most important things we have learned is cooperation. We talked with each other regularly and helped each other when we were facing problems.“

- GGT Participants, Hong Kong Management Association K S LO College

“Through the Girls Go Tech Programme, I learned how we can use technology to solve our daily problems and to serve the wider community. This year, I organised a Programming Team in my school to promote activities to my schoolmates. In the future, I want to study Chinese Medicine. I believe it is of utmost importance to blend technologies to areas such as diagnosis with Traditional Chinese Medicinve-based treatment making it more reliable and affordable to all people. I think technology is the most important thing to our life, we all should learn it as it is already applied in our daily life.”

- GGT Participant, Holy Trinity College

PROGRAMME TESTIMONIALS

REVERSE MENTORING

As a mentor, one of the most valuable lessons learned is to have the courage to challenge senior male leaders by asking questions and expressing different opinions.

- Sherry Yu, China Asean Fund (Mentor)

The conversations I have had with my mentor have allowed me to explore a deeper understanding of the challenges that need to be unpicked, and equally provided me with some great tools in order to directly address change.

- Alex Barnes, JLL (Mentee)

MALE ALLIES INITIATIVE

It has been an absolutely insightful and transformative journey for our company since we joined the Male Allies Initiative in 2020. It has not only sparked critical conversations within our organization in Asia but also in other regions. Most important were the research and tools that the Male Allies Initiative provided to conduct these discussions to drive the change needed. We are now looking forward to creating a Male Allies programme across Asia and hopefully globally with the resources and network that have been provided.

- Lani Tao, Steelcase (Female Ally)

MALE ALLIES INITIATIVE

My own personal journey in becoming an advocate for gender equality began when I joined the Male Allies Initiative in its inaugural year. Now in its third year, the Male Allies Initiative is really hitting its stride with events and activities that are thoughtfully put together to encourage brave and honest sharing of challenges and successes, understanding of our own biases and privileges, and learning of tools and actions that we can all leverage to make an impact in the office, at home and in our local communities. I highly recommend anyone who shares the same passion for gender equality, whether just starting out on the learning journey or already a veteran in advocating the cause, to become part of this amazing community of like-minded men and women.

- Peter Hwang, DragonCor (Male Ally)

MENTORING PROGRAMME

“Joining the Mentoring Programme is one of the best decisions I have made in my professional journey. I am amazed to see my growth in both personal and professional levels and it could not have happened without the guidance from the women leaders I met in the programme. Their sharing of experiences have given me courage and confidence to think outside the box and unlock my full potential. I strongly recommend the programme to anyone out there who is looking for ways to develop leadership skills. enhance self-confidence and build a supportive network with women from different industries.”

- Charlie Liu (20/21 Protégé Alumni), Decathlon

KEY EVENTS

GGT Hackathon Coding Competition

Gala Dinner

OUR BOARD

Susan Hutchison Board Chair

Cecilia Chan

Gwen Faure

Claire Goodchild

Brian Henderson

Angelina Kwan Vice-Chair and Company Secretary

Christine Tsang Treasurer

Rachel Cartland

OUR KEY TEAM MEMBERS

Joanna Hotung

Candy Liu

Tim Payne Samantha Wong Keith Pogson Honorary Auditor

Michelle Low (stepped down as of Sept 2021)

Tom Morrow

Fiona Nott CEO Finance & Administration Director

Rita Ching Principal Adviser

TREASURER’S REPORT

2021 was the second full year of the COVID-19 pandemic that created new space for TWF to run hybrid model programmes and fundraising events. Given rapidly changing conditions around the pandemic, it was a challenging year as we evolved our programmes and events . As with most NGOs, TWF has continued to be adversely impacted by the pandemic, in particular during the first half of the year when TWF events were switched to virtual format.

As a non-subvented NGO, our fundraising events typically provide us with the most critical cash inflow to sustain our programmes and operations, particularly unrestricted funds that give us the freedom to allocate funds where the need is greatest. Fortunately, TWF’s flagship fundraising Gala was able to take place in person in November which enabled us to replenish cash inflow as needed. TWF continues to be in good financial health and is well positioned to pioneer initiatives that grow our reach and impact in the communities that most need our support.

Sources of Funds

Reported income was HK$12.74m in 2021, which was a 5.1% increase from HK$12.13m in 2020, primarily attributed to the restarting of our Annual Gala Dinner from virtual to in-person format since COVID-19.

Corporate sourced funding (HK$10.4m in 2021 vs HK$9.3m in 2020) continues to be our most important source of revenue, accounting for 82% of income in 2021 (an increase from 76% in 2020). We are thankful to our generous corporate sponsors for continued support of our highly regarded programmes and initiatives such as our Girls Go Tech Programme, Digital Literacy Programme for disadvantaged families and daughters, flagship Mentoring Programme for Women Leaders and our Male Allies Initiative. We are truly grateful for the encouraging support for our in-person Gala event after consecutive virtual fundraising events. In recent years, corporate funding has become increasingly challenging to secure, and generally on a shorter commitment cycle. We continue to work to diversify our funding sources and warmly welcome interest from corporates interested in sponsoring our programmes.

Individual donations in 2021 improved by a 37% increase (HK$2.3m in 2021 vs HK$1.7m in 2020) and accounted for 18% of overall funding in 2021. We were heartened by those individual donors who make regular and ad hoc donations to fund our work.

Other income accounted for 0.4% of income, decreased from 10% in 2020. Interest income earned from some of our reserved funds was reduced to HK$51k in 2021 (HK$223k in 2020 which represented 2% of total income) due to the overall drop in interest rates in 2021. In addition, there was no repeat of the “Anti-epidemic Fund” from the Hong Kong Government in 2021 similar to the Employment Support Scheme in 2020. We will continue to monitor our cash position and keep part of our reserves in a fixed-rate term deposit for optimal returns.

Use of Funds

Our commitment to serving the community did not waiver during the pandemic in 2021. Reduced by only 2% from 2020, we spent HK$8.8m on programmes and research with a reduced scope of the #TechforGood initiative, representing 71% of our operating budget supporting direct beneficiaries and the community. The most significant component of our expenditure relates to our community Girls Go Tech Programme and our two COVID-19 response initiatives: the #TechforGood initiative and the #TeenforGood initiative. Combined, our community programmes accounted for HK$4.3m or 34% of our total expenditure (decreased from 41% in 2020).

2021 was another important year for our research efforts, with work underway on several major research projects. Research was our third largest expense representing 13% of overall expenditure at HK$1.64m (an increase from HK$1.57m in 2020).

A two year research project, Exploring Young Men’s Masculinities in Hong Kong, studied factors shaping young men’s perceptions and understandings of gender relationships and inequalities. This ground-breaking research was unveiled in July 2021 to a positive reception. The findings from this research are surprising, insightful and provide us with data to help us cultivate more gender equal behaviours and mindsets among this generation. This important research will inform future TWF programmes and initiatives including a new programme targeting young men which we are aiming to launch in the coming year(s).

We continue to work hard to run a lean and efficient organisation. Our rule of thumb is that at least 65% of our annual operating budget is spent on programmes and research, which are our core focus areas, and that overhead and administrative expenses should not exceed 15%. I am pleased to report that for 2021, programme and research related costs accounted for 71% of our expenditure while our administrative expenses were tightly controlled at 6% in 2021 (similar level as in 2020).

At 31st December 2021, TWF held cash balance of HK$17.5m. Most of this cash will be required to run our programmes and related costs for the following year, as TWF’s key programme cycles straddle the calendar year whilst funding is often received at the beginning of the cycle in Q3 or Q4. A significant portion of corporate sponsorships were received upfront, allowing us more visibility and sustainability for the programmes that we run. We also view a conservative cash reserve as critical to ensuring that we have funding to support TWF operations for a period of at least 12 months. This allows the organisation to operate with a sustainable view, consistent with the longer-term changes we aim to affect in society, even if the sources of funding that we currently rely on may not be available in future.

I look forward to your ongoing financial support and collaboration in the coming years. Thank you!

Christine Tsang Honorary Treasurer October 2022

RESEARCH COLLABORATE CHANGE