The stock exchange hosted a seminar earlier this year on the advancement of women in the workplace. Seven weeks later, Laura Cha became its first female chief
"On a personal level, I find it a great honour to be the first female chair,” says Laura Cha, chairwoman of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX), the operator of the city’s stock and futures markets. “The message has not been lost; a large number of people have noticed.”
In approving Cha’s appointment on April 26, Carrie Lam—herself a trailblazer as the first female Chief Executive of Hong Kong—was putting in place the first woman to chair the bourse since the founding of its forerunner, the Stockbrokers’ Association of Hong Kong, in 1891.
The statistics speak volumes
Cha is also the only woman among the chairmen of Hong Kong’s 50 blue-chip firms—a sadly standard figure in a city where the female board representation rate is less than 14 per cent, according to a study by the 30% Club HK, a group of business leaders who are committed to bringing more women into Hong Kong corporate boards.
See also: Introducing Hong Kong's First-Ever Women's Festival
Women are also quite badly under-represented in the legislature, numbering just 11 of its 70 members. “That’s not for the want of trying,” says Cha.
“I helped the Chief Executive with her transition team. We reached out to a large number of women and men who at that stage were reluctant to join the government for one reason or another. It is unfortunate that we don’t have as many women as we would like, but I am sure she will continue her efforts and I will do the same at the exchange.”