It is fun at the start of the [Women of Influence] conference to look across the hall and see women far outnumbering men for once - and the men looking distinctly uneasy,' says Jennifer van Dale, co-chair of this year's seventh annual Women of Influence Awards sponsored by the American Chamber of Commerce.
'You just say, 'Now you know how we feel every time we go into a meeting and there are 18 men and two women'.'
It is, she admits, an easy joke, yet one that strikes a chord with all the professionals - both men and women - gathered at the annual conference organised by Women of Influence, an organisation that helps to promote the advancement of professional women; the story also helps to focus attention on the organisation's core concern - balance and diversity in the workplace.
Women of Influence aims to encourage all professional groups and organisations influencing our daily lives to reflect the composition of society itself. Yet despite 2009 being the year when more women were at work than men globally, fewer than 10 per cent of the chief executives featured in Fortune 500 - the annual, top 500 American corporations ranked in terms of gross revenues - are women.
This low ratio is repeated worldwide - with few exceptions - across all levels of senior management and decision-making in corporations, governments and administrations.
Lee Georgs, the other co-chair of the awards, says the event is 'awe-inspiring for women and very humbling; it shows real examples of women who have achieved extraordinary things and encourages the rest of us to persevere, not just with our goals, but our beliefs and principles, too.'
Both Georgs and Van Dale agree that the situation of professional women has improved markedly in recent years, and take a positive view of progress made in Hong Kong. When Georgs arrived in Hong Kong six years ago, visibly pregnant, she went to job interviews where the reaction to her condition was far more obvious than she would have experienced in the West. But today she hears of far fewer similar cases and is in no doubt that male sensitivity to equal opportunities and balanced workplace issues has increased significantly.