Student-led conference empowers Hong Kong and Macau girls to break the code in STEM
CodeHers, which had more than 350 attendees this year, hopes to address the gender imbalance in tech, engineering and other similar fields.
CodeHers offered workshops on artificial intelligence, quantum computing and more. Photo: Handout Every week, Talking Points gives you a worksheet to practise your reading comprehension with exercises about the story we’ve written.
More than 350 girls from Hong Kong and Macau met this month for a student-led conference. It was dedicated to bringing more women into STEM.
Hosted at Victoria Shanghai Academy, CodeHers 2025 had free workshops on robotics, programming and more. Attendees also heard from women in tech.
CodeHers was started in 2023 by girls from 11 schools in Hong Kong. They want to support girls in science, technology, engineering and maths.
One of the pupils who started this group is Macy Lau, 16. She was inspired to do this because her computer science classes at Sha Tin College only had two girls.
She said: “Seeing coding often labelled as ‘something for boys’ motivated me to help organise CodeHers and encourage more girls to explore computer science.”
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Inspiring the next generation
This year, the event was not just for Hong Kong students. Pupils from Macau also came.
Also, more than 20 per cent of the conference’s attendees this year were from public schools.
The event had about 40 workshops. These helped girls explore computer science and other STEM fields.
In the main speech, Sara Tan told her story as a co-founder of NovaLearn. This platform uses AI to create videos and activities that help children learn.
Other successful women in STEM also talked about the problems women face in these jobs.
Valentina Banner attended the event. The 16-year-old felt inspired by the panel.
“As one of the few girls in my STEM classes, it’s uplifting to hear from others who’ve faced similar struggles and overcome stereotypes,” said the King George V School pupil. “The panellists inspired me and gave advice I’ll carry into my future.”
Solving real-world problems
Some people say women are not as good at STEM because of their gender. This is not true, but it means these fields often have many more men than women.
This can also be seen in engineering and technology programmes at Hong Kong’s public universities. Women made up 27 per cent of undergraduate students admitted to these fields in the 2024-25 school year. This is based on data from the University Grants Committee.
CodeHers hopes to fix this problem before girls go to university.
“Girls often drop out of computer science between ages 10 and 16,” said Anna Davies, 18. The Kellett International School pupil is one of the group’s founders.
“CodeHers builds a community where they can connect, support each other and pursue tech confidently.”
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Katie Fu, a co-founder from Chinese International School, said the group wanted to make it less scary for girls to learn about technology.
“Offering free workshops isn’t just about resources – it’s about empowering every student to explore STEM without obstacles,” the 16-year-old said.
CodeHers also hosted a hackathon that ended this month. They invited girls of all skill levels to use computer science to solve real-world problems.
Next year, the group plans to host another conference. They aim to reach more low-income students across the Greater Bay Area.
To test your understanding of this story, download our printable worksheet or answer the questions in the quiz below.
coding 程式編碼
the process of writing instructions for computers
computer science 電腦科學
the study of computers and how they can be used
hackathon 程式設計馬拉松
an event where many people work together to create computer programs
obstacles 障礙
something that gets in the way of achieving a goal
stereotypes 刻板印象
untrue beliefs about things or groups of people that might be used against them