How Jane Sun, CEO of Trip.com, is championing gender-equity

CEO Jane Sun’s pioneering policies at Trip.com reflect her mission to run a company that not only cares but also puts gender equity at its core

For almost two decades, Jane Sun has been part of Trip. com Group’s C-suite. And since 2016, she has served as CEO of the Nasdaq-listed company, which is one of the world’s largest online travel agencies, with more than 400 million users and 45,000 employees.

Yet for all her success, Sun experienced her fair share of bias as she worked her way up in the male- dominated tech industry, first in Silicon Valley, where she worked for more than a decade after university, and then in China.

Sun recalls an early business trip when she was CFO at Trip.com to meet with partners in another Asian country and describes how her then (male) CEO entered the room and was met with bowing and great politeness. The number two (also male) executive in the company then entered the room and was received with similar degree of respect. Ranked third, Sun then entered, but wasn’t greeted with so much as a handshake. “I don’t think they intentionally tried to hurt anyone, but they couldn’t imagine a female could take such an important position in the organisation,” she says.

You might also like: 6 Female CEOs leading innovation throughout Asia

Since then, she has also faced similar experiences when travelling in the US, where, having moved into the role of COO and then her current role as CEO at Trip.com, she was visiting Silicon Valley and everyone kept asking where her husband was. “Even in Silicon Valley, people had a difficult time imagining a major internet company CEO could be female. There’s still a perception that CEOs, particularly in the high-tech industry, cannot be female.

So, we have to work very hard to put in measures to really encourage female leadership within our organisation and within the industry.”

It’s a topic that Sun feels strongly about, taking her position as one of very few female CEOs of a tech company in China very seriously and embracing the responsibility that comes with it. “I need to contribute more and pave the way for future generations, not only within my company, and not only within our industry, but with everybody in China, in Asia, in the rest of the world. So, I work very closely with leaders in the industry, to share our practices so that we can create a good support system [and] bring [about] more [female] leadership in the future.”

Sun’s focus on gender equality is reflected in Trip. com’s numbers. Currently more than 50 per cent of its workforce is female, more than 40 per cent of middle managers are women, and more than one third of its executives are women.

“At a board level, at the executive level, you need to have representation [from people] who have been there, who have witnessed the challenges as a working mother, then the policy and procedure will be there. I think most male leaders also want to support female leaders, but they don’t know how.”

Sun wants to ensure that her company takes the lead not only in encouraging more women to join the tech industry, but also in finding more ways to keep them there so that they can be developed to become the leaders of the future.

A major cause of women leaving the tech industry and not returning is having children–something Sun is keen to address. The benefits that Trip.com offers female employees include free taxis to and from work while pregnant, and bonuses once the baby is born, including a cash gift to go towards education. When women return to work after giving birth, there are nursing rooms and flexible working arrangements, and opportunities to bring babies on business trips if breastfeeding.

“But I still don’t think that’s enough,” says Sun.

Why? She says if you look at women who have a PhD, they are already 27 or 28 years old when they start working in the industry. “And if you ask an OB/ GYN [doctor specialising in female reproductive health], they will classify any pregnancy after 35 as high risk. That only gives seven to eight years to highly talented women to build their career, build their family and have children. That’s very short.”

This realisation made Sun think about other measures she could implement; one was a policy whereby if senior female employees want to have their eggs frozen, Trip.com will pay for it. “That is very progressive,” says Sun. “We are the first company and the only high-tech company in the industry to have this progressive policy.

“Giving women an option is always better than having no option, because if you don’t like it, you don’t have to take it, but giving the option enables [women] to have a choice.”

Trip.com’s support of women is not limited to internal policies, nor to its senior executives. Sun says that the company builds a lot of Trip.com resorts in poor, remote areas, providing opportunities particularly to the women who live in these areas, as it means they don’t have to leave their care obligations whether for children or elderly relatives—and go to large cities to find work. It also means they often earn more than the local average wage.

In case you missed it: From the newsroom to the Olympics: Meet 8 women breaking boundaries in Hong Kong and beyond

Sun was born in Shanghai to two chemical engineers and studied at Peking University’s Law School, where in her second year she was chosen to go to the US to study at the University of Florida. While her parents earned a decent living in China, Sun notes that it didn’t amount to much when converted to US dollars, which meant that while she was studying in the US, she had to work two jobs to get by.

This determination to succeed remains apparent today. She starts her working day between 6am and 7am, going through her papers before back-to-back meetings with staff, partners, customers and industry players, which run until 6pm or 7pm. She then returns home for dinner with her family and to spend some time with her children before they go to bed.

Then the second part of her working day begins with the US and European markets, before she finally sleeps, though usually only for three or four hours a night.

“My schedule is very demanding,” she says. “But my kids see how hard I work. I want to be a good role model for them so, someday, if they decide to be working mothers, they know it’s difficult, but they know it can be achieved.

“Being a working mother is very challenging,” she adds. “We need to be prepared to invest twice as much time and effort into work and life. But the good thing is we also get rewarded twice—not only are we going to have a happy family, but we also have a good career.”

Sun feels it’s important to empower women and champion gender equity, as part of a wider contribution to society. “If you look at my grandmother’s generation, she was very smart, but she could only stay home to take care of the children. If you look at my mother’s generation, she was able to work as an individual contributor to become an outstanding chemistry engineer. My mother’s generation were taught that women can hold up half of the sky as men do, and that’s why their generation was liberated to enter the workforce. And if you look at my generation, we are able to make a contribution not only as individuals, but also lead a team to [contribute more] to the industry. There are so many things that a woman can bring to the world. So, I very much like to pave the way and enable my daughters’ generation and future generations.”

NOW READ

The Macallan’s first female master blender on what it takes to rise to the pinnacle of whisky

Are diversity, equity and inclusion possible in Hong Kong? Here’s what the experts think

What’s the T? Lauren Santo Domingo on being Tiffany Home’s artistic director

Topics

Gender Equity Jane Sun Trip.com Silicon Valley

Tatler Asia

How Jane Sun, CEO of Trip.com, is championing gender-equity in a male dominated industry