Hughlyn, in grade 10, is most interested in the role gender plays in society and in unlearning gender biases.
Meet Hughlyn, a 2020-2021 JYCGIF Youth Board Member from Hong Kong!
Thanks, Hughlyn, for being a valued member of our team!
Our Youth Board is the force and energy behind our vision to empower a future generation of women leaders!
Check her story now:
Making a positive impact! Thanks to Credit Suisse for hosting our Founder Jennifer Yu Cheng in a fireside chat about women empowerment, future-ready skills and leadership in the workplace.
To hear more:
China’s economy is racing ahead at breakneck speed, buoyed by urbanization, development and innovation. With more and more Chinese seeking lucrative job opportunities in cities – a better future for themselves, their families, and their communities – tens of millions of children have been left behind in rural areas.
The “left behind children,” as they are known, remain under the care of relatives, friends, or alone, and live in poverty. Many left behind children, particularly girls, have neither the means nor opportunity to receive more than nine years of compulsory education – remaining stuck in a perpetual poverty cycle.
At JYCGIF, we are on a mission to empower all teen girls to become future generation leaders – to uplift the status of women in work and society and generate upward social mobility. Providing teen girls in marginalized or underprivileged communities with access to education is key to what we do.
In a new partnership with Love Foundation, a Hong Kong-based philanthropy focused on Mainland China’s left behind children, JYCGIF has provided 100 teen girls from Guizhou province with the financial support necessary to complete their university degrees in Guizhou. The new Love Foundation-JYCGIF partnership will span four years.
“We could not be prouder to partner with Love Foundation on a cause so intertwined with our own,” says JYCGIF Founder Jennifer Yu Cheng. “At JYC Girls Impact Foundation, we know the power of education to break the cycle of poverty by building stronger, healthier families and creating the best circumstances for generational upward mobility.
“More educated women tend to be healthier, employed, active members of society who choose to marry and have children later in life. The personal and family gains in health, employment and civic life afforded by education create a lasting domino effect of prosperity. We hope to create such a positive, lasting impact on the girls, families and communities of Guizhou.”
“There is a saying: ‘Robust youths build a strong country; bright youths shape a wise nation,’” says Love Foundation Founder and Chairman Agnes Chiang. “Whether this enormous group of left behind children will become the burden or the hope of our country rests on our decisions today and the actions each of us takes now. We could not be more grateful to JYCGIF for taking concrete, meaningful action today to uplift teen girls in Guizhou for a better tomorrow.”
Around the world today, 132 million girls are out of school, including 34.3 million of primary school age, 30 million of lower-secondary school age, and 67.4 million of upper-secondary school age. [1] UNESCO COVID-19 has had an added negative impact on girls’ education, as many of those forced to stay home will be unlikely to return to school due to the loss or illness of a parent or primary breadwinner[2] The Center for Global Development.
Barriers to girls’ education differ among communities and countries – but poverty is consistently pointed to as the most important factor for determining whether a girl can access and complete her education. Girls who live under the poverty line and who face additional disadvantages — such as living in marginalized locations or who have disabilities — are even further behind in terms of access to education, according to the World Bank.[3] World Bank
Education breaks the cycle of poverty by building stronger, healthier families and creating the best circumstances for generational upward mobility, finds landmark research[4] The Heckman Equation by economist James Heckman. More educated women tend to be healthier, employed, active members of society who choose to marry and have children later in life. The personal and family gains in health, employment and civic life afforded by education create a lasting domino effect of prosperity.
In other words, better educated women tend to be more informed about nutrition and healthcare, engage in family planning, marry at a later age, and earn higher incomes. All these factors combined help lift households, communities, and countries out of poverty.
At JYC Girls Impact Foundation, we know that investing in girls’ education at once alleviates poverty and empowers the next generation of future ready women leaders. With an education, girls grow up to earn dramatically higher incomes, becoming key decision makers, responsible for the health, education and financial security of their families. They become future ready leaders!
By providing girls in disadvantaged communities with access to education, we at JYCGIF hope to improve the quality of life for them and their families – and to equip them to become leaders of their communities. JYCGIF is currently collaborating with schools, NGOs, multilateral organizations, the private sector and other donors to advance different projects to provide teen girls with access to education.
Thanks to Tatler Hong Kong and Tatler for spotlighting our Foundation and Founder – entrepreneur, education leader, and girl empowerment champion, Jennifer Yu Cheng!
Read the article about our “substantial new STEM initiative aimed at young women” in full: https://hk.asiatatler.com/society/jennifer-yu-cheng-launches-girls-foundation
Like our post and follow our page to join our campaign to empower teen girls today!
Thanks to the South China Morning Post for supporting and featuring the Jennifer Yu Cheng Girls Impact Foundation (JYCGIF) today! Read the article in full here: https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/3116377/empowering-girls-education-key-closing-gender-inequality-and
At JYCGIF, we are on a mission to empower teen girls to succeed in reaching their full potential to become future ready leaders.
Be empowered, stay connected!
Under Jennifer Yu Cheng’s leadership, JYC Girls Impact Foundation is empowering teenage girls to fulfill their boundless potential and make a positive, lasting impact everywhere they go.
Jennifer took time out of her busy schedule to share some insights:
A: My biggest challenge is that there are so many needs in education, that I find myself always wanting to do more to effect a positive change: from education access to bringing about greater diversity and equity, to leading digital transformations in schools, to innovating curriculum approaches, to launching a new K-12 school project in Greater Bay Area. At times, finding that work-life balance can be a challenge, but I find purpose every day in the work I do. Every time I walk into our schools or meet with a student, I know I am doing something that matters.
A: STEM will be an integral part of every field, industry and sector and will drive our future world. Being future ready means being equipped with the tech-forward mindset and skills to pursue all 21st century opportunities. Having tech knowledge, skills and mindset will position teen girls to be able to have more career options, make a greater impact in their future workplace, and become leaders in a digitalized economy.
I strongly believe that it is imperative to first change teen girls’ mindset. In many education systems, especially across Asian countries, students need to select their major before or upon entering university. Due to various reasons including stereotypes, lack of confidence and career path misconceptions, many teen girls rule out the college STEM path prematurely and this impacts even their high school subject choices and pursuits.
Teen girls need to see that majoring in STEM and subsequently pursuing STEM careers is only one of the many career options. Despite majoring in engineering, I first ventured into the finance industry and now work in the field of education. My engineering background influences the way I lead and the way I think – it is the way I approach and solve problems, and the way I imagine and innovate.
A: True leadership is the ability to build leadership capacities in others and mobilizing people to lead. Good leaders nurture people to find their passions and enable them to grow. To me, having a vision and inspiring others with that vision through important soft skills is the best kind of leadership. I find that one needs soft leadership skills – communication, collaboration, and creativity – just as much as, or often more than, hard skills.
A: People often take the safe road, but when you’re young, you should take the courage to step out of your comfort zone. Whether it is pursuing a passion or taking some risks, do something you care about. It’s okay to make mistakes – it is how you learn. No matter if you succeed or not along the way, these invaluable lessons learned early are what will give you the experiences and perspectives to become a strong leader.
A: Impact is a consequence of passion, courage and action. It takes courage to be an entrepreneur – to create something from a conviction and vision, because you never know how it is going to exactly work out. But if we live in a world where no one takes risks, then there is no progress. If we stop creating, we stop dreaming.
With the rise of automation, AI and robotics, workers versed in the power and versatility of technology are in ever higher demand. Those who have studied science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) will number among the leaders and decision makers who help transform how people live and work, and how industries and sectors perform, now and in the future.
While the number of women in STEM has grown over the past decades, women are still underrepresented in STEM fields. A gender gap exists at all stages of the STEM career pipeline – from interest and intent, to majoring in a STEM subject in college to having a career in a STEM field. UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) estimates that women make up 28%[1] UNGEI Report of scientific researchers worldwide, 23.4 % [2] UNESCO Women in Science of those in East Asia and Pacific, and 18.5%[3] UNESCO Women in Science of those in South and West Asia.
It is clear that women worldwide represent a major untapped resource of STEM talent. At JYCGIF, we know that building a STEM talent pipeline of teenage girls will change the face of technology, introduce more diverse sets of skills and ideas and help bridge the gender leadership gap as a whole.
STEM education is key to increasing women’s representation in technology. However, biases, stereotypes and cultural beliefs have been found to discourage girls as young as 11 from studying and excelling in STEM subjects, according to a Microsoft 2016 study [4] Microsoft. By the time they reach college, young women are already significantly underrepresented in STEM majors. Only 21% of engineering majors and just 19% of computer and information science majors are women in the U.S., finds the National Science Board [5] NSF. Across Asia, the situation is worse, with just 1 in 6 women majoring in STEM subjects, according to an International Labour Organization (ILO) [6] ILO 2016 survey.
Women’s representation in science and engineering declines at the graduate level and yet again in the transition to the workplace, with women comprising 26% of data and artificial intelligence, 15% of engineering and 12% of Cloud Computing employees, according to a McKinsey report [7] Future Women at Work.
At JYCGIF, we believe that change starts early. By exposing teenage girls to women trailblazers whose STEM training helped them succeed in a diverse range of careers, we hope to empower teen girls to think like innovators and solve problems like scientists and engineers – to buoy their interest in studying STEM-related subjects with the ultimate goal of increasing women’s leadership representation across all sectors and industries in our increasingly tech-driven world.
Despite enormous strides over the last few decades, a gender gap in leadership persists across corporate, public, start-up and STEM sectors. At JYC Girls Impact Foundation, we seek to level the playing field by building a strong pipeline of future ready girls who are both inspired and equipped to lead.
Annual research on women in the workplace by the United Nations, McKinsey, Credit Suisse and Pitchbook highlight the same crucial finding: a “broken rung” at the first step up to manager is holding women back from rising through the ranks to leadership positions.
Around the world, women:
In Asia, women:
Despite these statistics, the fact is there is no shortage of qualified, talented women. On the contrary: Research shows that women earn the majority of doctoral and master’s degrees worldwide [9] Washington Post. Despite women’s overwhelming academic achievements, they are underrepresented at the managerial level. With the number of women decreasing at every subsequent rung of the ladder, the gender leadership gap endures.
So, what can be done to position more women in leadership roles? At JYCGIF, we believe that today’s teen girls are tomorrow’s leaders. According to a Harvard Graduate School of Education study [10] HGSE, teen girls are key to closing the gender gap in leadership, because adolescence provides a window in which to reduce, even prevent, the gender biases that contribute to the gender leadership gap.
Equipping girls today with the future ready resources – the right education, tech mindset and knowhow, and leadership skills – will allow them to reach major milestones and grow into successful adults and leaders of the families and communities, who make a major impact everywhere they go.
To close the gender leadership gap, we believe there is nothing more important than empowering teen girls today to be truly future ready: to imagine, prepare and invent a better future for themselves and for the world.
Women remain underrepresented at management levels across sectors and industries. At JYC Girls Impact Foundation, we want to level the playing field by building a strong pipeline of future ready girls who are both inspired and equipped to lead. By equipping teenage girls with comprehensive future ready resources – education access, leadership development, and STEM exposure and tech skills, we strive to inspire and empower them to become the next generation of leaders.
Future ready leadership is also synonymous with confidence, goalsetting, communication, collaboration and recognizing inherent talents. By imparting core leadership values and skills through signature programmes and events featuring women trailblazers from every field, we hope to position teen girls to become leaders of their lives: proactive decision makers, who make a positive, lasting impact in everything they do.
By 2030, some 400-800 million jobs could be lost to automation[1]Jobs Lost, Jobs Gained (McKinsey). Our rapidly changing world needs people who are versed in the power and versatility of technology and who are curious, imaginative, deeply collaborative and undaunted by risk and complexity.
[1]Jobs Lost, Jobs Gained (McKinsey Global Institute, 2017)
At JYCGIF, we believe that providing teenage girls with rich STEM learning opportunities and exposure to women trailblazers with STEM backgrounds will empower them to approach every possible career path as future ready leaders.
We also believe that all girls possess the grit, talent and courage to lead – they just need help unlocking them! Creating the next generation of future ready leaders is the cornerstone to effecting tangible change in girls’ lives and to healthier communities and stronger economies everywhere.