31 percent public listed companies in Pakistan have women officials on their boards of directors (BoD), while 69 percent companies do not have even one woman in their BoD, experts said at a discussion on 'Gender Diversity in Boards of Directors in Pakistan'. The discussion was organised by the ACCA Pakistan on Tuesday.
Experts were of the view that out of the total 31 percent public listed companies, 18 percent companies have only one woman in their BoD, while 13 percent companies have more than one woman. Furthermore they said 22 percent KSE 100 Index companies had women in their BoD, while 78 percent do not have the services of any woman in this role.
They said 72 percent women are rendering their services, in this regard, in those companies that are owned by their families, while the remaining 28 percent women are serving in businesses which are not owned by their families. Referring to the top five KSE sectors interim of women representation in their BoD, experts said the textile sector has the highest percentage of women representation in this regard.
Speaking on the occasion, Head of ACCA Pakistan Arif Masud Mirza said there should be no disparity of gender in the recruitment process and the intelligent and competent candidates, either male or female, should be given equal opportunity on merit basis.
He said there are 43 percent women in ACCA Pakistan's global membership. He also said the ACCA was the first accountancy body to give membership to women in 1909. Director Human Resource (HR), Unilever Pakistan Ltd. Haroon Waheed said women should be given all what they deserve without gender discrimination. Addressing the occasion, Moneeza Butt, Partner, KPMG Taseer Hadi & Co said that a better understanding of the gender diversity was much needed.