OLAY joined forces with Watsons Hong Kong
1st STEM Scholarship to support Girl Career Diversity

In recent years, STEM education has been the talk of the town in Hong Kong. While cultivating talents in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics is top priority, prejudice like "science and engineering subjects are not girls’ strongest suits" is deep-rooted. If a girl comes from a traditional family, it is more likely that she has limited opportunities to explore the STEM fields. As such, P&G’s skin care brand, OLAY, joined hands with Watsons Hong Kong and Inspiring Girls Hong Kong again to encourage more girls to explore their potentials. Apart from inviting 2 female role models to share personal stories of STEM career pursuit, OLAY also set up OLAY Girl in STEM Scholarship to cultivate the next generation of STEM female workers in Hong Kong. The Scholarship would support 50 girls from underprivileged background to explore the fun of science and engineering and accelerate their career goal affirmation. With joint resources, more girls could pursue their goals freely and confidently.

OLAY was born out of passion for women and science. Since 1952, OLAY has consistently fulfilled women's skincare needs and boosted their confidence thanks to numerous female scientists’ tremendous contribution. Due to deeply ingrained gender stereotype and gender roles in Hong Kong, traditional families and schools have yet proactively encouraged girls to explore STEM. With the industry gaining momentum, girls shall be given an opportunity to learn from STEM female role models¹ to establish a career aspiration as soon as possible.

This year, OLAY founded OLAY Girl in STEM Scholarship with considerable support from Watsons Hong Kong. For each transaction of OLAY White Radiance set and PROX set at Watsons Hong Kong (store and online store) from May 12nd to June 30th , 2023, OLAY donates $5 to power Inspiring Girls Hong Kong STEM courses. This would support 50 girls from grassroots families to develop their STEM interests. In addition, OLAY invited two women from STEM background to share career stories and raise awareness on gender stereotypes. Christina Ho transitioned from artistic to aviation field, joining the 5% global female of the industry. From seeking overseas scholarships to studying fashion design to becoming a flight attendant to explore the world, she stayed true to her passion continuously and apply for flight school upon realising an interest in aviation few years ago. Now, she is actively advocating for gender equality in the recruitment processes of the aviation industry, and broadening students’ gender imagination of pilots. Another female role model, Amber Tang speaks up for girls’ unlimited potential upon bravely taking the first step. After graduating with a master's degree in architecture, she won the 1st runner up in Miss Hong Kong contest and recently expanded into content creation, became a Pilates instructor, and founded her own clothing brand. Through 2 encouraging women stories, OLAY prompted Hong Kong society to contribute more to underprivileged girls’ career development.

Ines Gafsi, Regional Chairwoman of Inspiring Girls Hong Kong, said: "We aim to nurture the ambitions of girls aged 10-18 and encourage them to pursue higher goals in life. Even though Hong Kong has actively promoted STEM education in recent years, gender stereotypes are still deeply rooted. Many traditional schools have not actively cultivated girls' confidence in exploring science and engineering subjects. In addition, private STEM education is expensive, and grassroots families could neither afford such learning opportunities, nor do they know the career prospect. Through cooperation with OLAY and Watsons HK, OLAY Girl in STEM Scholarship enables us to design STEM curriculum for 50 underprivileged girls according to their interests, and effectively broaden their career imagination. "

¹ Shin, J. E. L., Levy, S. R., and London, B. (2016). Effects of role model exposure on STEM and non-STEM student engagement. J. Appl. Soc. Psychol. 46, 410–427. doi: 10.1111/jasp.12371