Tribute to woman leaders

LAHORE

‘Herself’, a project of Punjab IT Board (PITB), held first Herself Women Convention (HWC) on the first anniversary here on Saturday to celebrate the power of women.

The convention held in partnership with Facebook at Arfa Software Technology Park attracted women leaders from diverse fields with common agenda of women empowerment.  

In his opening remarks, Dr Umar Saif, chairman of Punjab IT Board and founding vice chancellor of Information Technology University (ITU) and adviser to the Punjab chief minister, said Pakistan produced many heroes and many of them were women.

He added that it was not just a Punjab IT Board event but an event for the women of the country. 

Dr Saif said, "Thirty percent of employees at PITB are women and that happened as we went out and tried to find out best people in the market. It just so happened that most of them turned out to be females”.

He went out to say that medical schools were most difficult to get into but data showed 70 percent of medical students in Pakistan were females.

Talking about opportunities in the wake of technology, Dr Saif said online freelancing was a big opportunity for women too. 

The day-long event comprised various sessions, panel discussions featuring significant names in the industry, including Seema Aziz, the only woman from Pakistan listed on Forbes 500, Sarah Khurrum, Sidra Qasim, Mina Malik, Sadaffe Abid, Nadia Naviwala, Sadad Zarrar, Selina Rashid and Zainab Abbas, Samar Khan, Ayesha Sarwari, Ayesha Sarwari, Warda Altaf, Ammara Farooq and Ayesha Mubashir, participated in panel discussions and held individual sessions.        

According to the organisers, the aim of the convention was to gather wonder women from all across Pakistan to highlight the success of their work in multiple domains and motivate young women to step in the workforce to contribute in the economy.