Hong Kong has joined international efforts to get more women serving on the boards of listed companies, a rare initiative in a region that has seen a high number of female political leaders.
为顺应国际趋势，香港也开始鼓励上市公司增加董事会中女性的数量。这在亚洲地区是罕见之举，因为这里的女性政治领导人占比已经较高。
HSBC, Goldman Sachs, PCCW and Swire Properties are among 35 international and Hong Kong-listed companies whose chairmen are backing the local Women’s Foundation’s launch of the 30 Percent Club on Thursday.
香港妇女基金会(Women’s Foundation)将于周四成立的“百分之三十俱乐部(30 Percent Club)”，获得了35家国际和香港上市公司董事长的支持。这些公司包括汇丰(HSBC)、高盛(Goldman Sachs)、电讯盈科(PCCW)和太古地产(Swire Properties)。
The move also has the support of the securities regulators in Hong Kong and China, as well as key business associations in Hong Kong, and The Hong Kong Institute of Directors.
此举也得到了香港和中国内地证券监管机构、香港重要商业协会及香港董事学会(The Hong Kong Institute of Directors)的支持。
Roughly 40 per cent of Hong Kong-listed companies do not have a single woman on their boards, according to Su-Mei Thompson, chief executive of The Women’s Foundation. Only 10.7 per cent of all directors in the territory are female, even though a recent survey found that about 30 per cent of senior management positions in Hong Kong are held by women, Ms Thompson added.
香港妇女基金会行政总裁周素媚(Su-Mei Thompson)表示，大约有40%香港上市公司的董事会中没有任何女性成员。周素媚补充说，尽管最近的一项调查显示，香港高管中大约有30%为女性，但董事中只有10.7%是女性。
“We believe there is a good supply of board-ready women in Hong Kong,” she said. “Women are consistently overlooked for reasons ranging from boards not having a diverse enough range of candidates to persistent gender bias about the leadership aptitude of women.”
她说：“我们认为香港有很多女性有能力加入董事会。但女性一直由于各种原因被忽视，比如董事会候选人范围不够多元，以及人们对女性领导能力的顽固性别偏见。”
Hong Kong is one of the least worst in the region in terms of the overall proportion of female directors, according to a recent study by consultants at Catalyst cited by the 30 Percent Club. The worst is Japan, with just 0.9 per cent of all directors being female, while Indonesia has just 4.5 per cent, Singapore 6.9 per cent, Australia 8.4 per cent and China 8.5 per cent. In the US the number is 16 per cent and in the UK 15 per cent.
30 Percent Club引用Catalyst咨询师最近的一项研究指出，在女董事的整体比例上，香港在亚洲地区属于最佳之列。最差的是日本，董事会成员中只有0.9%是女性，印度尼西亚为4.5%，新加坡为6.9%，澳大利亚为8.4%，中国内地为8.5%。而在美国和英国这一比例则分别为16%和15%。
Some cultural issues around a strong focus on traditional family roles remain in much of Asia in spite of many more female political leaders in the region than the west. South Korea and Thailand currently have female leaders, as does the more Anglo-Saxon Australia, while Indonesia and the Philippines have had female leaders in the past.
尽管亚洲地区的女性政治领导人要比西方国家多很多，但该地区许多国家的文化中，仍然强调女性传统的家庭职责。目前韩国总统和泰国总理都是女性，盎格鲁-撒克逊国家澳大利亚的总理也是女性。而印度尼西亚和菲律宾也曾有过女总统。
Ms Thompson said that in Hong Kong last year, 25 per cent of women left the workforce when they married, fewer than in the past, but still a significant proportion.
周素媚指出，去年香港有25%的女性在结婚之后就离开了工作岗位，尽管比例比过去有所降低，但依然很可观。
“Teresa Ko, chairman of China for Freshfields, the law firm, said that there was less reason for this to happen in Hong Kong than in the west, especially for higher earners.
富而德律师事务所(Freshfields)中国业务主席高育贤(Teresa Ko)表示，相比西方而言，香港女性这样做的理由没那么充分，特别是对于高收入者来说。
“In Hong Kong it ought to be easier for women to serve on boards because of the amount of domestic support that is available,” she said. “In the UK and some other countries, many women are forced to make a stark choice between career and family because of the very high costs of child care.”
她说：“由于特区的大力支持，香港女性加入董事会应该更加容易。在英国和其他一些国家，由于儿童看护成本太高，很多妇女都不得不在职业和家庭之间做出严酷的选择。”
The Hong Kong 30 Percent Club has had support from the eponymous UK group but is independent of it.
香港30 Percent Club获得了英国同名组织的支持，但两者互为独立。
Its main aims are similar in that it does not want to see quotas or legislation to enforce change as has been recommended by the EU and adopted by countries such as Norway.
但两家组织的目标类似，即不希望通过配额或者立法来实施变革。配额和立法是欧盟(EU)所倡导的，也是挪威等国采纳的做法。
The club hopes instead to get locally listed groups to increase the number of women on their boards voluntarily by promoting awareness of the benefits of diversity, providing training and helping companies to identify suitable candidates and candidates to identify companies.
该组织希望通过提升对多元化益处的意识、提供培训、在公司和女性候选人之间牵线搭桥，使得在香港上市的公司能够自愿增加女性在董事会中的数量。
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