The Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OICCI) organized an online session on International Women’s Day, titled ‘Women in leadership: Achieving an equal future in a COVID-19 World’ on March 8, 2021. The session highlighted the importance of inclusion of women in all aspects of life, including the corporate sector where OICCI is playing a leading role.

A number of CEOs and HR practitioners attended the session that aimed to impart knowledge of the best practices and case studies of women empowerment and gender equality that supports the idea of ‘Women in leadership: Achieving an equal future in a COVID-19 World’ as per International Women’s Day theme this year.

President OICCI, Irfan Siddiqui, opened the session with welcome remarks and said that the International Women’s Day has significant importance for OICCI member companies and they are at the forefront in leading initiatives on Women Empowerment and Gender Equality at workplaces. OICCI aims to recommended that the government should set a target of 25% women in the workforce by 2025 which should be followed across the board.

The session was moderated by Amar Abbasi who is the Director & Assistant General Counsel; Government Relations Leader at P&G Pakistan. The Commissioner SECP, Sadia Khan, was the keynote speaker and she highlighted the importance of ‘Women on in Leadership Roles’ in the light of Companies Act 2017, which requires all listed companies to have at least one women in their Board of Directors.

There was also a panel discussion with Henna Inam, Independent Director at Board of Engro Corporation; Sami Ahmed, CEO P&G; Saquib H. Shirazi, CEO Atlas Honda; Irfan Wahab Khan, CEO Telenor Pakistan to discuss the ‘Challenges and Opportunities for Women in a COVID-19 World’.

The panellists emphasized that though there are many challenges due to COVID-19 but equality for women is a serious business issue. The International Women’s Day holds a significant importance and the world, Pakistan, and the business industry, need to understand the real concept behind it. We need to celebrate the efforts by women and girls around the world in creating a sustainable future and recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, as healthcare workers, caregivers, homemakers, scientists, and some of the most exemplary and effective national leaders in combating the pandemic. The panelists shared some inspiring stories of female leaders from their respective organizations.

The session was highly interactive and based on the extensive interaction among top leadership, it has been recommended that all private and public sector organizations need to create positive environment for increasing women inclusion in Pakistan’s economy by introducing, among other initiatives, agile working environment, assessing women employees without biases, adopting equal opportunities for growth and development, mentoring women employees and preparing them for future leadership.