Bridging the gap

To improve the stature of women in Pakistani society, the Pakistan Business Council in Dubai is implementing various initiatives within the organisation

Women’s empowerment has always remained a contested issue in the complex socio-demographic and cultural milieu of Pakistani society. To work towards greater female empowerment in Pakistan, organisations are working with Pakistani women.

Many organisations in Pakistan have taken initiatives to support greater political and economic equality. Like-minded people unite based on a shared vision of gender justice. Its leadership comprises women rights activists, with a background of active struggle for social justice and women empowerment in Pakistan. Promoting education, access to the digital world and awareness about their rights in society has led to women empowerment a key interest topic in Pakistan.

It strives for partnership with the community to develop a society based on three core values of sustainable human development: self-esteem, freedom of choice and a society where everyone has equal access to opportunities, health, education, livelihood and justice irrespective of gender and status.

Women empowerment provides new energy, insights, leadership and knowledge benefiting the women and children of their families, thus improving their quality of life. This process is spiral, changing consciousness, and identifying areas of change, planning strategies, acting for change, analysing actions and outcomes. This process means a new understanding of power that is democratising and sharing it — building new mechanisms for collective responsibility, decision-making and accountability. It also implies that women address global concerns, for example, violence, environments, poverty, illiteracy, and rapid population growth. Interventions including the formation of savings and lending groups and income-generating activities help women realise their financial goals and overcome persistent, gender-based barriers. As resourceful economic agents, women can take control of their future and support their families and communities. Literacy gives women authority, agency and opportunity. In a nutshell, all the objectives lead to economic growth in Pakistan.

With the new board appointment in early 2021, under the leadership of Ahmed Shaikhani, President of the Pakistan Business Council (PBC) in Dubai, a role was created to promote women in PBC. The business council was faced with a challenge where there was less than two per cent women representation in PBC. The President and the board members pledged to change this gender imbalance hence appointed Anum Baqai as the VP, Women Empowerment for PBC to increase women memberships by inviting them to the events and giving them an overall positive experience. This will lead to creating equal opportunities for women entrepreneurs and providing them more visibility — generating business for women entrepreneurs and featuring PBC as a place to grow one’s business.

PBC has transformed its image as an organisation that is open to women. The previous perception was that it was only for men as there were few female members. The PBC Women Wing was established in April 2021 and now PBC women members organise, host, plan and execute their own events.

The PBC Women Wing is a hub for collaboration and women are sharing their requirements. Women are supporting each other’s businesses and working together on numerous projects. There is an increase in women memberships in PBC and its culture is more tolerant to professional women. The overall perception of Pakistani women has changed in the UAE and around the world.

Goals for empowerment

Awareness

In every event, it has an education slot where renowned speakers are invited to share their knowledge and experience with Pakistani businesswomen. PBC organised a legal awareness session, which was a huge success as all expat women were educated on different topics such as wills, Shariah law and planning for any unforeseen events. It also aims to have a speaker inform on how can women entrepreneurs network and take advantage of referral marketing, adapt to the evolving business needs and the world around them, running their businesses, how to build a personal brand etc.

Networking

As the saying goes ‘People buy from people, not companies’. PBC takes networking very seriously and organises a weekly meeting called ‘PBC Connect’, which helps its members network with each other. PBC women also organise meetings where only prospective female members meet each other, support Pakistani entrepreneurs and build relationships.

Business

PBC aims to promote bilateral trade between the UAE and Pakistan. It also focuses on generating business amongst its members. There are members from various industries such as manufacturing, real estate, oil and gas, services and technology. The aim is to create synergy amongst them. PBC believes ‘This is not an era of competition, it is one of collaboration’.

Visibility

Visibility in a business council for women entrepreneurs is equally important. Women tend to work behind the scenes more than being in the limelight and PBC aims to change this by giving women a chance to present their service to all other members.

There is an enormous opportunity to increase Pakistan’s GDP by 30 per cent, which resides in women’s economic participation. The female labour force participation rate is only 24 per cent, although 47 per cent of students enrolled in Pakistan’s universities are women. Women empowerment is a process rather than a product. Recruiting women into the formal workforce represents a significant opportunity for Pakistani companies as workforce diversity has been linked to a variety of business benefits, including increased productivity, competitiveness, and growth. To help Pakistan’s companies tap into this large and underutilised pool of female talent, PBC partnered with many organisations to provide employment and business opportunities. By identifying and addressing barriers to women’s employment, PBC member companies are strengthening their workplaces. The partnership is to drive economic development and reduce gender disparity in the economy.

Gender equality is one of the key strategic areas, and collective efforts of PBC that will enable equal opportunities for women in the workplace — helping reduce the gender gap and contributing to the growth of Pakistan’s economy.

When organisations have gender balance, their revenue lines are much better than their competitors.

Gender equality will lead to greater equality in the overall income distribution for a country. Gender wage gaps are directly correlated to income inequality, higher gaps in the labour force participation between men and women, which then ultimately results in inequality of earnings between the two genders. Higher-income inequality can undermine the sustainability of growth for an economy. Additionally, women also work in the informal work sector (due to inequality of opportunities, unequal access to education, health and finance) where earnings are much lower. After careful case studies and research, PBC is making a huge difference in women empowerment.

Become a PBC member

Those interested can apply for membership via the online form on the PBC official website

www.pbcdubai.ae, or contact Ms. Ellanie, Office Manager, on officemanager@pbcdubai.ae or. Shahid Iftikhar, Executive Assistant, on info@pbcdubai.ae for further assistance

Membership categories

Category A: Dubai-based Pakistani Corporate Business Membership

Membership in this category is open to Pakistani businesses registered in Dubai, either independently or in affiliation with a UAE National or with a UAE Corporate body.

Category B: Dubai-based Pakistani Individual Membership

Membership in this category is open to all Pakistani nationals who are working in Dubai, except individuals that qualify as the representative of Dubai based Pakistani Corporate Member.

Objectives of Pakistan Business Council, Dubai

Promote trade, commerce and investment between the two countries.

Facilitate businessmen who are interested in investing in Dubai and other freezones in the UAE in all possible ways by providing them information in various avenues.

Introduce Pakistani products to business houses in the UAE, especially in Dubai for investment and for joint venture in Pakistan.

Organise exhibitions in Dubai to promote Pakistani products is another salient feature. At PBC Dubai exhibit, chamber members can participate and display their products.

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