‘Huge gap in female workforce, political participation’

Creating Inclusive Organisational and Public Spaces also focused on inclusion, leadership

LAHORE: The Centre for Governance and Public Management (CGPM) housed at the Suleman Dawood School of Business (SDSB), Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), organised an International Conference on ‘Creating Inclusive Organisational and Public Spaces’.

Renowned academics, development practitioners, post-graduate and undergraduate research students and professionals from numerous business and civil society organisations attended the conference, a press release issued stated. The two- day event commenced with an inauguration ceremony where LUMS Vice-Chancellor Prof Sohail H Naqvi, SDSB Dean Dr Jawad Syed and CGPM Director Dr M Azfar Nisar welcomed the audience with their inspirational and refreshing remarks.

The inauguration was followed by the first keynote speaker session of the conference, where Associate Professor in International Management and Development Suliman S Olayan School of Business, American University of Beirut, Lebanon Dr Beverly Dawn Metcalfe delivered a keynote speech on Islamic feminism.

The sessions evolved around a series of themes, including gender and inclusion, urban public spaces, leadership and inclusion, media etc.

While speaking to participants, IMS Knowledge CEO Andleeb Abbas said, “In the domain of female participation, there exists not only a huge gap in their workforce participation compared to men, but they also fall behind in the realm of political participation.” She added, “In order to improve these in Pakistan, one should not merely provide them with 33% reserved seats for women, but within these seats there has to be a criterion where real representation is reflected.”

Economist Dr Kaiser Bengali said, “The conference provided valuable intellectual discussion for the audience and the participants alike.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 6^th, 2018.