ISLAMABAD: Out of total 21,168 companies registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) between March 2020 and March 2021, 5,145 firms have at least one female director, the regulator said in a statement issued on Wednesday.

The commission is cognizant of the vital role played by women in economic growth and has introduced a number of measures to improve gender mainstreaming within the organisation, the statement added.

According to the SECP, the measures include increase in maternity leave from 90 to 180 days, ensuring 48 per cent representation of females in new hiring and 23pc representation in recent promotions.

There is 29pc female representation at senior levels the SECP and 23pc women are working at management cadre.

Pakistan has improved its score on entrepreneurship indicator of Woman, Business and the Law (WBL) index from 50 to 75 points among 190 countries the World Bank publication has announced, the SECP said.

The WBL index covers eight broad areas, including mobility, workplace, pay, marriage, parenthood, entrepreneurship, assets and pension. In the 2021 report, Pakistan has improved its score on two indicators, entrepreneurship and workplace, resulting in upgrading the overall score to 55.6, from 49.4 in 2020. Pakistan has been included in five economies that have introduced reforms to improve entrepreneurship opportunities for women.

On the occasion of International Women’s Day celebrations, SECP Commissioner Sadia Khan encouraged women to actively volunteer for various activities.

Events on diversity should be a regular feature during the year, where women can discuss all the progress made in the past and deliberate on the way forward, Ms Khan said.

Published in Dawn, March 11th, 2021