Women underrepresented in corporate Pakistan

Speakers at a conference discuss gender inequality in C-level jobs.

KARACHI:

The fact that all the four speakers in a panel discussion on ‘Gender diversity at workplace’ held at the International Women Leaders conference on Tuesday were men was a true reflection of the underrepresentation of women in C-level jobs in corporate Pakistan.

While hundreds of young women, who looked like mid-career corporate professionals, crowded the spacious hall of a local hotel, few men except some CEOs of blue-chip companies took part in the conference, which was organised as part of the fifth Women in Business conference (Wibcon) series.

“We would not have been able to fill this room ten years ago. But the turnout today shows that change is indeed taking place,” said GlaxoSmithKline Pakistan Managing Director Salman Burney while speaking during the discussion. “Today, three of our seven board members are women,” he said, adding that women should take bold initiatives on their own without waiting for men to provide them with opportunities.

In his keynote address, IBA Dean and Director Ishrat Husain said that the percentage of women on the boards of directors of leading corporations in the United States was less than 15%. “Gender inequality in the corporate sector is not unique to Pakistan. It is a global issue,” he said.

Quoting from studies carried out by international institutions like the World Bank, Husain said educating girls yields the highest return on investment. “It is not agriculture, infrastructure, or the services sector. It is the girls’ education that has the highest economic and social returns.”

He said 10 out of the 11 students on the dean’s list in IBA’s BBA programme last year were girls. “Women are more determined, focused and hardworking than men. That is because they realise that in the world that lies ahead of them, they are going to face a lot of discrimination and difficulties. That is a motivating factor for them to do so well.”

Published in The Express Tribune, January 30^th, 2013.

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