KARACHI: Fifteen leading Pakistani women professionals rang the bell on Friday at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) in a ceremony held to promote leadership and gender balance in the country’s business sector.
The PSX, Women on Board (WOB) Pakistan, International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Pakistan Business Council (PBC) shared the bell ringing for gender diversity. In doing so, the PSX joined over 70 other stock exchanges around the world to commemorate International Women’s Day.
The country does not have an enviable record of gender diversity, since according to the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2018, Pakistan ranks 148 of 149 countries surveyed.
The annual survey 2018 by WOB Pakistan covering 506 of the total 556 listed companies, revealed that there are only 41 female chairpersons, 10 CEO’s, 11 CFO’s, 30 company secretaries, and a total of 416 directors.
Hence, out of a total directorship of 3,942 directors, there are only around 11 per cent are female. Of these, 290 directors, ie 7.36pc are related women directors, whereas 126 directors, ie 3.20pc are unrelated or independent.
It may be noted that the number of unrelated/independent female directors has increased, from less than 1pc in 2017 to over 3pc in 2018, which is an increase of 121pc.
Chairperson WOB Pakistan Rahat Kaunain Hassan said, “WOB’s objective is to have at least 25pc gender parity on the corporate boards in Pakistan by 2025.”
Addressing the ceremony, PSX Chairman Sulaiman S. Mehdi said, “The important role of women in any society cannot be denied or overlooked because it is women who lay the building blocks of our future generations by nurturing them.”
Principal Country Officer IFC Shabana Khawar said there is a compelling business case for more gender diversity on boards and in business leadership — IFC research has shown that diverse boards enable companies to operate more efficiently and perform more effectively.
Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan Chairman Farrukh Sabzwari stated that the subject matter of gender diversity is very close to the new leadership at the commission. “Almost 27pc of our workforce in senior management is women and the overall 15pc in terms of total workforce is also a good number when compared to other organisations,” he said.
He said that a lot of work needs to be done to get more women on corporate boards and a concerted effort is also needed to help them get back into the workforce after they take a step back for family reasons mid-career. “I am looking forward to helping pass the same message onward to powers that be in Islamabad.”
PBC Chief Executive Ehsan Malik said that “building on the business case that diversity in the workplace leads to better performance, it is hoped that the solidarity shown by the key stakeholders at today’s event, also resonates in creating equal opportunities for women in our country.”
