Companies from the mainland that have historically been slow to change are one of the biggest obstacles for the Hong Kong stock exchange in achieving its goal for gender diversity on corporate boards, but that's finally beginning to change.

Major Chinese firms are appointing female directors, or setting targets for diversity, ahead of Hong Kong’s end-of-2024 deadline that could end up creating more than 1,300 positions exclusively for women.

Food delivery company Meituan is the most recent high-profile firm to name its first ever woman to its board, adding Esquel Enterprises Chairman Marjorie Yang — also one of three women on the seven-person board of Hong Kong-listed Budweiser Brewing Co. APAC, in June.

Overall progress remains slow, and some of China’s industry giants still have no women on their boards. That includes online search company Baidu, smartphone brand Xiaomi and electric vehicle maker BYD.

But with investors putting more attention on the issue and the Hong Kong stock exchange quota looming, companies are revealing plans to boost diversity.

BYD, which this year dethroned Volkswagen as China’s best-selling car brand, is considering adding a female director to comply with the Hong Kong stock exchange rule and said in its most recent annual report that it is "committed to promoting gender diversity not only within the board but among its workforce generally.”

Xiaomi has said it will appoint at least one female director by the end of 2024 and increase the proportion of women on its board over time. Car dealer Zhongsheng Group Holdings is in the process of identifying suitable female candidates. Baidu said it provides equal opportunities across hiring, training and promotion.

Overall, boards at firms on Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index are making inroads in their diversity push. Six companies increased the number of women on their boards, including Hong Kong’s MTR and Cnooc, one of China’s top oil firms, according to data compiled by Bloomberg as of June 30.

Women held four more seats on the boards of companies in the HSI in the second quarter from the previous three-month period, the biggest increase in two quarters. The average number of female directors rose to 2.1 from 2.0, out of an average board size of 10.8.

Two firms that had women leave their boards, briefly making them all-male, have recently added female directors.

In August, Wuxi Biologics Cayman appointed Jue Chen, a professor at Rockefeller University whose research looks at cell proteins and their role in diseases like cystic fibrosis, to its board. China Merchants Bank added Li Jian, a professor at China’s Central University of Finance and Economics who supervises postdoctoral research.