Seminar on Gender Justice & Our Society

Department of Management Sciences- 14 May 2009

A seminar on “Gender Justice & Our Society” was organized by the Department of Management Sciences (MS), COMSATS Institute of Information Technology (CIIT), Abbottabad on Thursday, May 14, 2009 in collaboration with Centre for Civic Education.

Dr. Rehana Rashid, Chairperson, Department of Chemistry, graced the ceremony as the Chief Guest. All faculty members and a large number of students of Management Sciences Department, CIIT Abbottabad were present in this seminar. Mr. Shahid Masood, Lecturer, Mr. Immad Khan, Lecturer and Syed Touseef Ahmad, Lecturer all from MS Department were the organizers of this workshop. Dr. M. Mushtaq Khan, HoD, MS Department, Qazi Shujaat Mahmood, Program Manager, Marketing, Mr. Shahid Masood, Lecturer and  Ms. Zainab Fakhr, Lecturer were the Panelists.

It was an enriching activity to attend. Ms Zainab Fakhr highlighted different aspects of gender discrimination in Pakistan. She discussed the roots of gender discrimination and related it to the feudal and tribal mentality of our society. She stated that Pakistan ranks at 126 out of 128 in gender discrimination in the world. Her multimedia presentation on “Role of Women in Your Life” received loud applause from the audience.

Qazi Shujaat Mahmood, Program Manager, Marketing, focused on the Code of Conduct for gender justice at workplace. He said that the Code of Conduct can be very useful, if applied properly, as it can make the workplace a dignified place for women and can help them in overcoming the hurdles that make it difficult for them to become a useful part of our national workforce.

Chief Guest, Dr. Rehana Rashid, Chairperson, Department of Chemistry stated that Islam does not discriminate on the basis of gender and there is a need to promote tolerance in our society. Speaking from her experience of working in Baluchistan for two decades, she said that nearly all societies have some difficulty treating women and men equally, including developed nations. She held lack of education responsible for gender discrimination.

Mr. Shahid Masood, informed the audience that the seminar was part of an ongoing training initiative from “Centre for Civic Education” for developing youth capacities for rule of law & good governance. He said that gender discrimination is not a myth. He further stated that tangible progress in gender justice can be achieved if we put our family system on sound value system by giving the right space to females from their early childhood.

Dr. M. Mushtaq Khan, HoD, MS Department, CIIT Abbottabad talked about the great strides that the world has made in recent years in addressing women's rights. He held the laws enacted during martial law regimes responsible for gender discrimination. Besides improving those laws, he suggested that government should ensure greater involvement of women in economic activities. He acknowledged the support and patronage of Dr. Haroon Rashid, Director CIIT Abbottabad for holding such activities. He also appreciated the support extended by Centre for Civic Education in conducting the seminar. He appreciated the organizers of the seminar, in particular the efforts of Mr. Immad Khan Jadoon, Syed Touseef Ahmad, Mr. Sajid Naeem, Mr. Shahid Masood and the student organizers for excellent arrangements.

Attending this seminar remained very fruitful for all the participants. Main topics discussed during the seminar were:

• What is Gender Discrimination?
• Types of Gender Discrimination,
• Gender Justice in Pakistan,
• Causes of Gender Discrimination,
• Women empowerment,
• Code of Gender Justice,
• Gender Justice at workplaces,
• Gender Justice and Islam,
• Question-Answer Session.

Mr. Sajid Naeem, Manager Administration, CIIT Abbottabad appreciated the keen participation of the faculty and students in the seminar and stated that campus administration would extend every possible support to conduct such useful activities. He encouraged the department to organize a similar seminar on campus level.

The seminar was very informative and fully served its purpose. It was recommended by the participants to conduct more such seminars in future. At the end, certificates of appreciation were distributed to the organizers and panellists by the Chief Guest, Dr. Rehana Rashid.