Aim of the Workshop

The Workshop aims to help talented women to explore their hidden potentials by developing confidence and leadership acumen and equipping them with skills to navigate the complex leadership maza balancing both career and personal aspirations. Step Ahead… Make A Difference

Who should attend

High potential, emerging women managers, academicians and entrepreneurs who aspire to greater leadership roles in their career by developing their strategic thinking & negotiation skills, breaking the glass ceiling, overcoming self-limiting habits, learning the art of creating win-win partnerships, keeping work-life balance and unlocking their true leadership potential.

Schedule

Overview:

Women empowerment and leadership

World Economic Forum has recently issued its Global Gender Gap Report, 2014, where Pakistan has been ranked at second worst country of the world with reference to gender equality issues and allocation of resources and opportunities for men and women. This situation is so alarming and it is indeed, the need of the hour to put more emphasis on gender equality and gender diversity. Research has proved that organization with greater gender diversity perform better. To promote women leadership in Pakistan much has to be done at governmental as well as social level to break the glass ceiling and to alleviate the gender disparity. COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, being a leading higher education institution has always been a center of academic, cultural and social activities. COMSATS Institute has taken the initiative to organize a workshop in collaboration with Duzce University to promote women leadership in higher education. The basic purpose of this workshop in collaboration with Duzce University, Turkey is to improve the representation of female academicians at leadership positions and provide them enough support and resources to be at decision making positions in early part of their careers. Dr. Funda Sivrikaya Serifoglu, the president of Duzce University, Turkey has long been working on women empowerment and leadership in higher education. The workshop is designed to create awareness and inspirations for women entrepreneurs by providing them entrepreneurial skills and mentorship to enhance their businesses and contribute for the betterment of Pakistan’s economy. Mentorship and training of these young beginners is incredibly important who aspire to become future leaders. This workshop is basically designed to cater all these requirements for improving effective women participation and empowerment in academia, Industry, corporate sector, SMEs and entrepreneurship.

CIIT Mission:

CIIT is dedicated to the search of truth through advancement of learning and extending the frontiers of knowledge; to the sharing of this knowledge through education in an academically diverse range of disciplines; and to the application of this knowledge for the benefit of people of Pakistan in particular, and the Muslim Ummah and the world,
as a whole.

Core Objectives of the International Workshop on Women in Higher Education:

• To address issues and challenges related to women leadership in academia, industry, business and corporate sector
• To improve women empowerment, Ensuring equal rights, access to quality education, more opportunities to move forward and balancing personal and professional life.
• Mentorship of young women academicians and entrepreneurs at early stages of their career for aspiring top level positions.
• To share similar experiences with other Islamic countries to propose solutions for Pakistan, specifically and Islamic World at Large.
• To recommend effective policies and strategies to elevate gender equity and improve women participation in leadership and decision making positions in academia and industry.

Scope of the Workshop:

Gender disparity is a cause of serious concern in Pakistan. Present situation in Pakistan in terms of gender equality and allocation of resources and opportunities between men and women, is not satisfactory, even International human rights agencies have expressed deep concerns over dilapidating conditions of women rights and increasing gender disparity in Pakistan. The basic purpose of this workshop is to improve the representation of female academicians at leadership positions and provide them enough support and resources to be at decision making positions in early part of their careers. Another objective of the workshop is to create awareness and inspirations for women entrepreneurs, managers and SMEs to provide them training and mentorship by empowering them to enhance their businesses and contribute for the betterment of Pakistan’s economy.

The best way to learn about women leadership is to learn it with and from other women leaders
Significance of the Workshop:

Women education and empowerment is not only for women exclusively but it is for all families who are attached to these women. Women empowerment, women education and making them financially stronger are a need of the hour. There are proven research evidences that organizations having gender diversity at top level management perform better and societies with more gender equality grow and prosper consistently. Moreover, an educated, self-reliant woman is supposed to be a better mother who gives better training, good living standards and better education to her children and family. In Pakistan, women at leadership positions in industry and academia are very rare. Young entrepreneurs are doing very well but still they need mentorship and training. This International workshop’s basic objective is to train and mentor female academicians, managers and entrepreneurs to seek for leadership positions and to give recommendations to formulate policies and strategies to elevate gender equality and ensure more positive female participation at leadership positions in academia and industry.