There is an increased awareness and recognition in Pakistan about gender inclusion and diversity in the workforce and leadership. From advocacy to leadership positions, the focus must now shift to exploring the connection between gender and investing.
Financial inclusion in Pakistan stood at merely 21 per cent in 2017, with only 7pc being female. In 2019, the workforce comprised 73.89 million out of which only 27pc was female. As Pakistan makes an effort to economically recover from the pandemic, this is the right time to embrace a gender-inclusive capital market as a norm and not just as a compulsion. The mandatory female representation on boards of listed companies has attempted to ‘break the glass ceiling’. However, with mere approximately 250,000 accounts for stock trading, the participation of women in capital markets as investors, if any, is abysmal.