SIALKOT: The CEOs of about 14 more leading export companies from private sector would sign “CEO Statement of Support for Women’s Empowerment Principles” during a mega event scheduled to be held in Sialkot on December 19, 2017 under the auspices of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) and Baidarie (a non-government organization established by rural women).
Chief Executive of NGO “Baidarie-Sialkot” Arshad Mehmood Mirza told the newsmen that the Women’s Empowerment Principles is a partnership initiative of the UN Women and the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC). He said it also provides a set of considerations to help the private sector focus on key elements integral to promoting gender equality at workplace, marketplace and in community through policy and action.
Earlier in 2015, the CEOs of about 17 Sialkot based export companies had signed this statement on behalf of 11,000 employees where 18 percent were women who acknowledged that equal treatment of women and men is not just the right thing to do but it is also good for the business, he added.
By adopting the seven principles, industrialists of Sialkot have acknowledged the rights of the women workforce”, he said. CEOs, as part of their responsibility, would also be reminded that their commitments must now translate into visible and measurable actions.
He narrated that it was done at a juncture of time when none other in Pakistan had signed these principles therefore this daring initiative by the industry was greatly appreciated by the governmental functionaries and non-governmental women economic empowerment facilitators worldwide.
Dr. Farhat Masood, Provincial Secretary Labour and Human Resource Development, Government of Punjab, will be the chief guest and Ms. Sangeeta Thapa, Deputy Country Representative, UN WOMEN Islamabad, will preside over the session.
The representatives/officers from UN WOMEN, ILO, UNIDO, GIZ, District Administration Sialkot and other government departments, PCSW, BISP, trade bodies, industrialists, woman workers rights groups, civil society activists and woman workers will also attend the mega event.
