Media

UN Women’s HeForShe Head meets Hong Kong in August at HKU

26 Aug 2016

 

Elizabeth Nyamayaro – Senior Advisor to the Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN Women and Head of the HeForShe Initiative – returned to Hong Kong this August to inspire students as the 2016–2017 academic year begins. On August 26, 2016 (today), the University of Hong Kong (HKU) hosted Ms. Nyamayaro and welcomed new students by facilitating a series of events engaging men to work with women to achieve gender equality.

"HeForShe starts with the belief that all of us are equal...and should be free from undue expectations, stereotypes or limitations because of our race, nationality, sexuality, or gender," Elizabeth Nyamayaro said. "We are honoured to have The University of Hong Kong's President Mathieson as a HeForShe IMPACT 10x10x10 Champion - in fact, he was our first University IMPACT Champion - and has committed to be a true champion of gender equality in the region."

The August series includes: (i) a student-led HKU 2016 Idea-thon on 26 August (Friday) afternoon, facilitated by Ms. Nyamayaro for students to throw in ideas and collectively work out creative solutions on breaking gender stereotypes on campus and in the community, and (ii) a workshop and town hall meeting - HeForShe: Conversation and Collaboration for Change on 29 August (Monday) morning where students, faculty, and administrators from HKU and the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), along with corporate, non-governmental organisations, and government leaders will gather for collaboration to strengthen HeForShe impact in our homes and institutions. 

The HKU President and Vice Chancellor Professor Peter Mathieson added: “I was convinced that gender equity needed tackling here because of the statistics on gender imbalance at HKU and in the university sector in Hong Kong and in Asia more widely. The attitudes that I encountered here, including amongst many successful women, were that it was too entrenched a problem to be worth tackling, that it was somehow ‘just the way it is’ and we should all accept it.”

Professor Mathieson further noted: “Promoting equality is the right thing for a university leader to do (a) because it is right morally and ethically; (b) because we are the current location of many of the world's brightest young people who will be the future leaders; (c) because we know from the business world that diverse teams are more effective; (d) because educated societies rightly look to their universities for leadership by example.”

Media enquiries:
HKU Communications and Public Affairs Office
Ms Trinni Choy (Tel: +852 2859 2606, email: pychoy@hku.hk) or
Ms Rhea Leung ( Tel: +852 2857 8555, email: rhea.leung@hku.hk)