SHANGHAI, China, June 19, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- This week, Jane Sun, CEO of Ctrip.com International, Ltd. was named the leading supporter of the Women in Global Health LEAD Fellowship at Harvard University, which was recently launched by The Harvard Global Health Institute (HGHI) and the university’s Women and Health Initiative. Five female global health pioneers chosen as part of the Fellowship will spend an initial semester at Harvard, and then receive an additional year of mentorship as they execute their leadership plans back at their home institutions. As the world’s second largest online travel agency, Ctrip has been consistent advocate of gender equality in the workplace and has implemented a wide array of initiatives to support female employees.
Jane Sun, CEO of Ctrip.com International, Ltd. was named the leading supporter of the Women in Global Health LEAD Fellowship at Harvard University.
Women continue to be underrepresented in leadership roles in the public health, medicine and life sciences sectors. While only about 25% of leadership positions in the global health industry are occupied by women, females represent an estimated 70% of people working in the industry. Harvard’s Women in Global Health LEAD Fellowship was created to address this inequality and empower more women to become leaders in the health industry.
The five fellows were selected from over 300 applicants from 29 nations, and the inaugural cohort includes the founder of a non-profit tackling HIV/AIDS in 36 Indian States, a pioneer of people-centered care from Moldova and an award-winning youth and reproductive health-advocate from Malawi.
Ashish K. Jha, the Faculty Director at HGHI and Dean for Global Strategy at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health said, “We are proud to partner with the Women and Health Initiative to ensure that Harvard is part of the solution to increasing the role of women as leaders in global health public health, enabling the next generation of leaders to have even greater impact. And I am particularly grateful of Ms. Jane Jie Sun, a visionary supporter of our effort.”
The fellowship was made possible by Jane Sun, the leading supporter of the fellowship. Ms. Sun is the only female CEO in China’s online travel industry and one of very small number of female CEOs in the Chinese technology tech industry. Ms. Sun has been a consistent advocate of gender equality in the workplace and encouraged Ctrip’s female employees to take leadership roles in the company as a matter of priority.
Ms. Sun said, “At the year end, of the majority of employees who proactively ask for promotions are male, and there are very few females who come and talk with me about career development and advancement. I always make an effort to encourage our female employees to put themselves forward for leadership roles, as a reflection of their invaluable contributions to our company.”
Under Ms. Sun leadership, half of Ctrip’s employees are now female and one third of executives in high-level positions are female, figures which are much higher than average in the internet industry, whether in China or Silicon Valley. Ctrip has adopted a wide variety of benefits and enacted measures designed to help women tackle difficulties in balancing their work and family lives. Pregnant female employees at Ctrip are able to reimburse their taxi fees, and education subsidies are given to both male and female employees who have a new baby. Last year, Ctrip decided to allocate up to 2 million RMB to help female employees to freeze their eggs, becoming the first large Chinese technology company to offer this benefit after Apple and Facebook.
For further information, please contact:
International PR
Ctrip.com International, Ltd.
Tel: (+86) 21 3406 4880 ext 196455
Email: Pr@ctrip.com
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/96b0766a-cde6-4435-9dbd-0f961a56ea54