Conference encourages young women to work

Themed as 'steps towards a progressive nation’, it invited successful women to share their life stories

LAHORE: PITB’s Herself Women Convention - a national level convention aimed at  gathering women from across Pakistan to highlight the success of their works in multiple domains and motivate other young women to step in the workforce, was held at Arfa Software Technology Park on Saturday.

With a turnout of at least 500 women, this first of its kind convention highlighted the rights issues women face and asked for solutions from the industry leaders. The day long convention was themed as 'Steps towards a progressive nation’, that invited a number of successful women from across the country to share their life stories in panel discussions.



The event also featured various activities and workshops aimed to educate and motivate women to work for the improvement in quality education and diverse career paths in Pakistan.

The convention kicked off with a welcome address by PITB Chairman Dr Umar Saif. In his opening remarks, he said that Pakistan was the sixth most populous country with more than 50 per cent of female population. Therefore, it was our duty to step up and empower the women of our country to progress as a nation, he added.

The opening ceremony was followed by panel discussions on multiple issues and topics such as the ethos of exemplary role of women in leadership positions, role of women in making policy, how women can make a massive impact through media and how women can move the economy forward by pursuing entrepreneurship and leadership roles.

Some of the notable panellists included author of ‘Pakistan’s Education Crisis: The Real Story’ Nadia Naviwala, Women’s Economic Empowerment and Women Leadership at UN Women Pakistan Manager Fariha Ummar, SiddySays Owner Sadaf Zarrar, LotusPR CEO Selina Rashid, Sports Journalist Zainab Abbas and Aisha Sarwari, who worked for CNN and National Public Radio in the US.

Sadaffe Abid, founder of CIRCLE Pakistan- an organisation that works towards women's economic empowerment through innovative entrepreneurship and leadership labs, advocacy campaigns and research, said that when women came together great things happen.



“This is a great platform for ambitious women supporting and inspiring each other and tackling the challenges Pakistan faces to contribute towards its  economy,” Sadafee said.

Facebook was an official partner of the event and conducted online panel discussions, workshops and competitions from the Facebook headquarters.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, July 10^th, 2017.