By Rafiq Vayani
KARACHI: Women should get equal participation in decision making in the society as well as mainstream business and politics, Riaz A. Rehman Chamdia, President, The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan (ICAP) said.
The president ICAP was delivering his speech at the Women Day Celebration organized by CA Women Committee at ICAP House, Clifton recently. Riaz Rehman Chamdia said that there are exemplary female chartered accountants in the profession who have paved the way for the aspiring female students towards chartered accountancy. On the international women day we should commit that women and men should work together to achieve gender equality, he stressed.
In his keynote speech on the topic of “Women in Changing World of Work Planet 50-50 by 2030” Shahzad Dada, CEO Standard Chartered Bank said that we are breaking the barriers in reducing gender gap. He said that women are in the challenging world and it is difficult to achieve 50-50 gender equality by 2030. “Though it is difficult but it is possible,” he added.
He said that women in Pakistan are sharing around half of the work in all economic sectors but they could make only 25 percent of the workforce. He said that we need to ensure the real participation of women workforce in the economy.
On the occasion, Hina Usmani, Chairperson, CA Women Committee said that the committee had made headways in the very first year of its establishment. Our core objectives are facilitating female women membership and advocating career advancement, she added.
She pointed out that the committee has many challenges to address especially attracting professional women’s in to working environment. Work from home is one of the solutions we are considering to bring women in mainstream, she said. Ms. Hina also highlighted the role of social media for promoting the voices.
A panel discussion moderated by Moneeza Usman Butt, Partner KPMG was held on the topic of “Press for Progress.” Other panelists included Abdul Aziz Memon, Chairman Kings Group, Ainee Shahzad from Karachi Grammar School, Ateed Riaz, Chairman Board of Directors TCF, Sherbano Moiz Ali, Program Producer Samaa Tv and Shumaila Halo, Senior Manager ICAP. Dr. Zeelaf B. Munir, CEO EBM also spoke on this occasion as the Chief Guest.
A table talk on “Take a stand; Let’s build communities together through entrepreneur drive” was moderated by Hena Sadiq, Partner Deloitte Yousuf Adil. The panelists were Huma Pasha, Senior Partner Usmani & Co, Raeda Latif, Faysal Bank and Saira Nasir, CEO E-learning.
The event concluded with presentation of CA Women Achievement Awards 2018 to outstanding female chartered accountants.
