Ms. Kashmala Tariq, Federal Ombudsman for Protection against
Harassment at Workplace (FOSPAH) said that women don’t want seclusion from
men, rather they want to perform shoulder-to-shoulder with men in every field,
but they should be given respect, protection and acceptance. She said that
women should be provided equal opportunities in every field to make Pakistan a
strong economy. She was speaking as Chief Guest at International Women’s Day
organized by Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry. Ms. Aisha Mukhtar
Country Representative UN Women, Ms. Aisha Moriani Joint Secretary WTO
Ministry of Commerce, Ms. Shumaila Rifaqat Head of ICF & ME Karandaaz, Ms.
Ayesha Ahmed CEO Pak-Agri Market, Ms. Amna Malik Convener ICCI Women
Entrepreneurs Committee, women entrepreneurs, female university students
and faculty members were present at the occasion.

Kashmala Tariq said that if any woman in public and private sector faced any
kind of harassment at workplace, she should report online to FOSPAH and
assured that she would get relief within 2 months. She said that every public and
private organization should display FOSPAH code of conduct at prominent places
in office and added that non-pliant entities would be fined up to Rs.100,000/-.
She said that women have also been provided inheritance rights through a new
legislation and they could report to FOSPAH in case of violation of these rights
and they would get justice in 2 months. She said that women were over 50
percent of population and they should be given 50 percent representation in
governing boards and decision making bodies.

Speaking at the occasion, Muhammad Ahmed Waheed, President, Islamabad
Chamber of Commerce & Industry said that women accounted for half of
country’s total population and they needed a favorable ecosystem to play more
effective role in the economic development of the country. He said evidence
from around the world showed that women empowerment led to better
economic growth and urged that government should focus on policy reforms to
create more conducive environment for women to bring them in the mainstream
of economy. He said though Pakistani women have made their mark in every
field, but they needed more opportunities to play enhanced role in development
of country.

Saif ur Rehman Khan Vice President ICCI and Mian Akram Farid said that
government should provide easy access to credit and special incentives to
women startups in order to enable women entrepreneurs to flourish in the
country. They said that women could be made more productive by focusing on
their professional trainings and skills development.