Aimed at enabling more women to access health, financial, and other life-enhancing services, Pakistan’s leading digital operator Jazz has committed with GSMA Connected Women initiative to increase the proportion of female broadband users on its network by 8% by the end of next year with a dedicated focus on female smart phone ownership. The commitment was announced by Jazz CEO Aamir Ibrahim during the ‘Power to be You’ event held at Jazz Digital Headquarters in Islamabad.
The company’s Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) statement was unveiled at the event along with key initiatives towards empowering women at the workplace. Jazz has announced six months phase back support for new mothers on top of the already available six month paid maternity leave, an executive program on women leadership in collaboration with LUMS, and dedicated offsite learning retreats for women. Moreover, an MoU was signed with Chughtai Labs for the provision of the Pink Card which offers Jazz employees and their families a 50% discount on women related medical tests.
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The event featured multiple activities, interviews, and panel discussions from industry experts including Dr. Omar Chugtai, Chughtai Lab; Dr. Sadia Nadeem, FAST School of Management; and Dr. Rakshinda Perveen, a social entrepreneur. Ayesha Raza, Co-founder of Abey Khao, a fast-food café and a startup scaled under Pakistan’s premier accelerator program Jazzxlr8, also inspired the audience with her entrepreneurship journey and how her venture is promoting social inclusion of people with hearing impairments by providing them employment opportunities.
Addressing the audience during her keynote, Dr Sania Nishtar said that women’s digital and financial inclusion is critical for not just their social protection but also to help form an inclusive and progressive society. She also lauded the role of telecom industry in accelerating digitalization across various sectors and digitally transforming citizen services.
Aamir Ibrahim, CEO Jazz reiterated the importance of adopting a collective approach to build a society where women feel empowered, safe and contribute to all areas of life. “Whilst we are nurturing a culture of equal opportunities at Jazz, externally we are empowering Pakistani women digitally with our products, services and sustainability initiatives enabling them to access health, financial and other life-enhancing services.”
Through various initiatives, Jazz is driving digital gender equality. The company has programs in place to enhance digital literacy among girls and maximize female led enterprises in the startup ecosystem. Jazz has also collaborated with Meta to launch an online safety booklet for Pakistani users, especially women, to help them understand the dynamics of digital space better and develop responsible online behavior to cope with the modern-day challenges of the digital world, voicing their thoughts while ensuring safety.
