ISLAMABAD: President Dr Arif Alvi said there is a need to create an enabling environment to ensure the participation and inclusion of women in economic, business, trade, and industrial sectors on a fast-track basis.

The president expressed these views while talking to a delegation of the Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry Peshawar, led by its president Shahida Parveen, at Aiwan-e-Sadr on Saturday.

Welcoming the delegation, the president said women made up almost 50 percent of the country’s population and the provision of enabling conditions such as ensuring their safety and security at the workplace and providing quality education and skills to women should be the priority of the government and the society.

He said local traditions and practices regarding women’s property and inheritance rights need to be changed and women should be given all the property rights admissible to them as per our religion and the Constitution.

The president called upon the chambers of commerce around the country to help women entrepreneurs secure these loans to start their own businesses and improve upon the existing businesses.

He also urged the Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry Peshawar (WCC&IP) to create linkages with other chambers of commerce for greater participation of women in other chambers of commerce and industry and businesses under their purview.

The president also expressed his concerns that Pakistan had one of the lowest workforce participation rates for women in the world, which is extremely alarming.

He said that the Federal Ombudsman Secretariat for Protection against Harassment at Workplace has also been empowered to hear the cases of grievances of women even if such cases were already being heard by the courts of Pakistan.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022