ISLAMABAD: Participants on Friday honoured women who had displayed exemplary talent, commitment and professional excellence in their respective fields, becoming role models for the younger generation.

Serena Hotels, under its Public Diplomacy initiative, Raabta, hosted an engaging panel discussion on the topic, ‘Celebrating Female Role Models of Pakistan’.

Speakers included President of Behbud Association Abida Malik, Federal Ombudsperson for Protection against Harassment of Women at Workplaces Kashmala Tariq, Group Head, People and Organisational Excellence at Bank of Punjab, Alia Zafar, the first female general manager of Serena Hotels Asia, Sarwat Majeed, Head of Dermatology at PAF Hospital Dr Muneeza Rizwan and young female powerhouse singer Hadia Hashmi who made her mark with her debut inNescafe Basement.

The panel held an interactive discussion on the topic ‘What it means to be an empowered woman in Pakistan’ and shed light on factors impacting the professional and personal lives of women.

The participants discussed the goals for achieving women empowerment in the Pakistani context, as well as the role of change-makers, corporations and society at large in this quest.

Speaking on the occasion, Kashmala Tariq said it was important to celebrate women role models for the future generation of professional women, for whom the pioneers were paving the way so they face lesser challenges and more successes.

Dr Muneeza Rizwan said she felt that a truly successful woman was the one who was successful in her roles at work as well as home.

“Many professional women are mothers and it is important for them to mould children to become useful members of the society,” she said, commenting on what she called was a difficult balancing act but an important one.

Sarwat Majeed said corporations played an important role in nurturing the potential of female employees.

“It is important for male senior executives to be champions of change and craft policies that support women professionals to realise their talents and passion,” she said.

Abida Malik thanked Serena Hotels for always supporting the cause of women empowerment by supporting the work of Behbud Association, especially the women artisans.

“Empowering women has a ripple effect on the whole society and improves the lives of entire communities,” she added.

Commenting about the clash between the left-leaning and right-leaning segments of the society, Alia Zafar said people needed to learn about constructive discourse to talk about differences in a respectful way.

She said progress of women and girls of Pakistan was crucial for crafting a better tomorrow for the country.

The discussion was moderated by Sidra Iqbal, a broadcast journalist and curator of Raabta.

The audience included participants from the government, corporate and diplomatic sectors and civil society who also interacted with the panelists during the question and answer session.

Published in Dawn, September 11th, 2021