KARACHI: Shahnaz pretended to be a boy to enrol in an accelerated learning programme in Balochistan, recounted Pernille Ironside, a representative of the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef).
The UN agency had set up the learning centre, but local resistance to girls’ enrolment meant Shahnaz’s father, who also happened to be a teacher there, helped his daughter disguise herself as a boy. Within a few months, he convinced the community to allow girls to attend. Shahnaz could then go to school as herself.
The story was shared at the International Women Leaders Summit, organised by New World Concepts on Tuesday, where policymakers, diplomats, corporate leaders, development experts and influential voices from across sectors gathered to examine gender inequality and its many dimensions.
Ms Ironside shared another story, this time from Punjab: a girl in a wheelchair who, with Unicef’s support, completed grade eight. Using her limited education, she began working online and is now able to support herself and her family, rather than allowing her disability to become a lifelong constraint. Stories such as these were repeatedly cited to underscore a central point of the summit: when women are empowered, they are better able to serve their families, their communities, and the economy.
Inclusion of women in workforce stressed as smart economics at International Women Leaders Summit
The same logic applies to agriculture. Women make up an estimated 65 per cent of agricultural workers, but their labour, largely confined to weeding and picking, remains invisible, despite forming the backbone of one of Pakistan’s most critical sectors.
Yet there were clear differences in understanding and emphasis across panels. Some male leaders argued for merit-based advancement and increasing female participation in partnerships. Others were more blunt about how far the gap remains. As Javed Kureishi, CEO of the Pakistan Business Council (PBC), noted, only three of its 101 member companies are led by female CEOs. Acknowledging the distance still to be covered, he said that during his tenure, he plans to expand the PBC’s Centre of Excellence in Responsible Business, with a stronger focus on inclusivity.
Bias, speakers noted, is not confined to developing economies. As Hajo Provo Kluit, deputy head of mission at the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, observed, even in a progressive country like the Netherlands, a bank once assumed that if only one card could be issued for a joint account, it would belong to the husband, not the wife.
In Pakistan, however, the structural gaps are stark. One in five girls is married by the age of 18, which is three times the rate for boys. Roughly 60pc of females aged 15 to 24 are neither in education nor part of the workforce, compared to 14pc of boys in the same age group, Ms Ironside said.
Regarding solutions, Andreas Schiekofer, director of the ther in education nor part of the workforce, compared to 14pc of boys in the same age group, Ms Ironside said.
Regarding solutions, Andreas Schiekofer, director of the Goethe-Institut, proposed measures such as quotas for women. But as Barrister Shahida Jamil, former federal minister for law and justice, pointed out, Pakistan’s experience with quotas has often been marred by politicisation and exploitation.
Ultimately, Ms Ironside argued, financing the future of women must be embedded in every budget — federal, provincial and corporate. Inclusion, she said, is not charity; it is smart economics.
Published in Dawn, February 4th, 2026