Our Pakistan Chapter recently established a group for Women in Safety Excellence (WISE) with the goal of empowering women through education and advocacy and including women from diverse fields and regions of the country.
The chapter also held a seminar, “Role of Women in Safety for Healthy Change in Society,” in October 2018. The seminar was attended by members from organizations including Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited, Rescue 1122, National Highway and Motorway Police, Fatima Group and Forman Christian College University.
During the event, WISE members spoke with participants and discussed the networking opportunities the group offers, promoted continuing education and professional development, and shared issues specific to women in the workplace and the OSH profession. Members of our Pakistan Chapter also spoke about the objectives of WISE in Pakistan and some of the chapter’s achievements.
Key points identified through the seminar include:
- Skilled manpower may become scarce with industrial growth and women need training in OSH to fill in any gaps.
- Pakistani legislation and regulatory framework in OSH need to be updated to meet the unique challenges faced by working women.
- Government should invite stakeholders to discuss the importance of women in OSH to contribute in national development.
- Academia should encourage female students to choose OSH as a career.
- Media should be encouraged to develop awareness among women.