“Feminism isn’t about making women strong. Women are already strong. It’s about changing the way the world perceives that strength.” - G.D. Anderson
In order to achieve sustainability, development and evolution in the current state of affairs, we have to achieve gender equality. Gender equality is all about breaking social norms and gender barriers that are hindering opportunities for females of the country. Not only this, but it is also very important to acknowledge their efforts as well.
Keeping this in mind, the annual Savvy and Successful Award ceremony by Coca-Cola Beverages Pakistan Limited (CCBPL) was recently organised in Lahore which aimed at acknowledging eight exceptional women. The aim of the campaign was to reach out to women who have broken gender stereotypes with the choice of their careers and also recognize those women who have gone above and beyond the set benchmarks of their respective fields.
The eight women who were awarded at the event included leading educationist Humaira Bachal, who runs Dream Model Street School, Karachi for underprivileged children. She started it in her neighbourhood at the tender age of 12.
Up next was Zahida Kazmi, Pakistan’s first ever female taxi driver. After Zahida’s husband passed away, she started driving a rented taxi around the city of Islamabad, in order to feed her seven kids. Today, Kazmi also gives driving lessons to women in Rawalpindi.
Shazia Parveen, who joined the Rescue 1122 emergency services as Pakistan’s first female fire-fighter, was also recognised for her services to the community.
Director of Justice Project Pakistan, Sarah Belal also won an award for her efforts to represent the poorest prisoners facing the harshest punishments in the courts of law and the court of public opinion. Her focus has been on strategic impact cases involving foreign nationals, torture, mental disability and freedom of expression issues. She is also involved in litigation to challenge Pakistan’s complicity in the extraordinary rendition of Pakistani subjects to illegal secret prisons created by the US.
Dr. Mariam Sultana, the first Pakistani Woman to earn a PhD in Extragalactic Astrophysics, also took home an award. Moreover, she holds a degree in Mathematics, a rare career choice women seldom opt for.
Squash player Sadia Gul, who is 17, also bagged an award. Gul ranks 109th in the international squash ranking. And the good part was that CCBPL also recognized women working within the company.
All in all, this was a good effort and we hope that more of such events are organised in the future to acknowledge such outstanding women.
- Rubia Moghees
