KARACHI: Women of different age groups gained inspiration while also sharing their own experiences after listening to the success stories of four women during a panel discussion on ‘Overcoming challenges to achieve success’ moderated by US Consul General in Karachi Brian Heath and organised by US Consulate in Karachi at the consul general’s old residence here on Thursday.

Joint executive director and ER director at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre Dr Seemin Jamali said that her mother always wanted her three daughters to make something of their lives but she passed away very early when Ms Jamali was only six. “Still, she had prepared us for after she would be gone. I for one always wanted to reach for the stars in the sky, literally, which she thought as strange, cute and funny. But then she told me that she would be watching me from up there,” said the brave doctor who opted for a difficult department, the emergency section, soon after stepping into the medical profession.

“In my years here, I have seen 200 bomb blasts, which no man must have experienced. In February of 2010, there was also a terrorist attack at the JPMC emergency in which 18 people were killed and I was also injured. I have seen men being brought in and others with them bashing up each other, youngsters bringing in weapons, people trying to impose their religious beliefs of observing purdah on me. But during all this I have kept my focus and learned on the job.

“After my mother’s passing we three sisters moved in with our grandparents. We were very middle-class and my grandmother felt burdened to be raising another three little girls after bringing up her own children. I would walk for miles to save bus fare but I had my hopes and dreams to follow. Girls should have hopes and dreams. And they should know that their dreams can come true also. Being resilient helps you,” she said.

Zeenat Saeed Ahmed, who runs a home decor accessories business and designs and manufactures sterling silver jewellery is among other things a founding member of the Women’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Speaking of her experience, she said that she never had any role models except for her parents. Her mother had to run the house on a tight budget and she wanted to grow up and make something of herself to make her parents comfortable. “And to do that I started thinking out of the box. In fact we should all think like that. Do something new. Like I opened the first boutique in Pakistan back in 1969. We should boldly go where no one has gone before,” she said praising the motto of the popular science fiction show Star Trek making everyone laugh.

Noorulain Masood, CEO of Teach for Pakistan, said that her grandmother got married at age nine and her mother when she was young chose to be a home-maker as she didn’t have many options open to her. But she chose to help kids from downtrodden backgrounds. Her message to other girls was not to hurt their parents’ trust in them.

Huma Adnan, creative director of FNKAsia, said that her mother was her inspiration while growing up. “My mother was a single parent and she wanted her children to get the best education possible. I was the first girl in my family to do Master’s and got my first job in a bank and then so on and so forth,” she said while sharing that she had two daughters whom she tells to be ready for every challenge in life.

“We women in Pakistan are very lucky to be respected the way we are. Everywhere in the world women are not given special privileges like we are here. There are no separate queues for them even in the UAE,” she added.

US Consul General in Karachi Brian Heath observed that women in the US make up 50 per cent of the workforce and growing up he had watched that trend in his mother, a school nurse, and his sisters. So he had always believed that professional women often even exceed men in their work, he added. “In Pakistan,” he said, “25pc women are involved in the workforce and many among them are not appreciated as much as men while also being paid less in salaries”.

Atika Latif of Byco, Tahira Raza of First Women Bank, Sadia Khan who works at Wall Street in New York, Safa Khan a student and teacher, singer Tina Sani, artist Hina Bayat, writer Shanaz Ramzi, beautician Angie Marshal and Nazish Chagla of Hobnob and Neco’s, who were present in the audience, also actively participated in a debate following the panel discussion while sharing their own experiences.

Published in Dawn, March 27th, 2015

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