The activists and supporters of Women on Board (WoB) Pakistan shall perform the 'opening bell ringing ceremony' at Pakistan Stock Exchange to express their commitment for improving the acute under-representation levels of women in the country's publicly listed sector. The ceremony shall be held before the opening of the trading session of PSX on March 20th, 2017.
It may be mentioned that this year, more than 43 stock exchanges in the World, have already dedicated a day for such events during the month of March to mark their solidarity for the cause of greater gender inclusiveness in the listed sector. The tradition of holding of opening bell ringing ceremonies at the global stock exchanges by the women activists started about 3 years ago to coincide with the International Women's Day, and to highlight the business case for enhanced economic opportunities for women. With the holding of the opening bell ceremony for the Women on Board advocates, PSX shall join the rank of the global stock exchanges showing solidarity with the cause of gender mainstreaming in Pakistan's corporate sector.
WOB-Pakistan has been established to serve as a campaign to promote mainstreaming of able-minded and qualified women professionals at all levels of business and corporate leaderships. WOB-Pakistan raises awareness about the need for immediate corporate action to improve gender balance and make gender diversity targets as part of the corporate laws as well as the code of corporate governance in Pakistan. Rahat Kaunain Hassan, the former Chairperson of Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) and a director of PSX serves as the Chairperson of WOB-Pakistan.
Commenting on the development, Rahat stated that "Its heartening that PSX has decided to reserve a market opening session for highlighting the need for the opening of merit-oriented leadership opportunities for the women corporate professionals. WOB-Pakistan would welcome all leading women professionals to join us on that occasion in support of our cause." It may be mentioned that WOB Pakistan has been set up as a Trust under the Trust Act, which shall undertake many professional development, mentoring and training programs to prepare "Board-Ready Women." WOB aims to achieve 25 percent representation for women professionals on the corporate boards in Pakistan by year 2025.-PR