SDG5 Gender Equality
Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
Photo Credit: Project Ha Giang 2019
Research
Doing equality consciously
Our Women’s Studies Research Centre (WSRC) has been serving as the hub for researchers, policymakers, leaders from different sectors of the community to explore the issues of gender, sexuality and diversity across disciplines, cultures, and contexts. Our researchers examined the correlation of unconscious bias and racial and gender stereotypes as well as evaluating the effectiveness of existing tools in reducing bias.
The study shows clear evidence of implicit biases to racial and gender stereotypes across different groups of participants. The intervention was effective in reducing bias levels significantly to gender-based biases but not racial biases. The research provided suggestions on addressing unconscious bias and its impact on race and gender by educational training, the inclusion of unconscious bias in legislation, and the provision of official guidelines and codes of practice from governmental bodies.
Key Data
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2019-20
43
Courses
1,865
ResearchPapers
19
Students
enrolled
Engagement and Outreach
Closing the Gap
To understand more about gender and diversity across various sectors in Hong Kong, the Gender Studies Programme co-hosted Closing the Gap: A Cross-Disciplinary Panel Discussion on Gender Equality in Hong Kong. Experts from different ethnic and career backgrounds were invited to explore how gender perception was influenced by societal trends, language, and stereotypes. They also shared their challenges faced during their journey of understanding gender and leadership.
Teaching, Learning and Students Activities
HKU Women in Finance
Gender inequality has been a persistent issue in the financial industry. Studies showed that women bias in reviews and promotion, inadequate support, advice and sponsorships on career advancement, ambition gap, or gender pay gap in the industry. To address this issue, HKU Women in Finance was formed to equip female students with sufficient knowledge and networks for their career development. Career talks, discussion forums, skill enhancement workshops and networking opportunities were provided to the students to improve their self-confidence and unleash their potential in developing their career in the finance industry.
Courses and programmes
HKU has been promoting gender equality throughout the curriculum. All undergraduate students can be able to learn about gender equality through our common core course on Women in Science. The course looks into the gender disparity issue in the field of science and technology. The course examines the socio-cultural barriers faced by women in the STEM fields across countries and cultures such as bias, social pressure, discrimination, and harassment. Also, the course analyses the importance of reducing the gender gap in the STEM fields along with the comparison of various strategies to promote gender equality.
Operations
Self-Assessment Team for Gender Equity
Our Faculty of Science set up the Self-Assessment Team for Gender Equity to promote gender equity on campus. The team implemented a series of actions such as mandatory unconscious bias training for members of hiring panels, discussions with the Faculty of Arts leadership about their efforts towards gender equity, and the development of a gender equity webpage for the Faculty website to raise awareness of the science community on gender discrimination.