LAHORE: (Thursday, March 10, 2022): Special Assistant to Chief Minister Punjab Hasaan Khawar has said that there was a need to bring change in behaviors to ensure rights and respect to women. He said that no country could make progress without participation of women and Pakistani women were also performing well in all the fields of life. He was addressing a seminar organized by PU Department of Development Communication and Department of Digital Media at Al Raazi Hall on Thursday in connection with International Women’s Day. PU Vice Chancellor Prof Niaz Ahmad Akhtar, PU Pro Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Muhammad Saleem Mazhar, MNA Alia Hamza Malik, MPA Sumaira Bukhari, MPA Bushra Butt, MPA Sadia Sohail Rana, Chairperson Department of Development Communication Dr Ayesha Ashfaq, Chairperson Department of Digital Media Dr Sawira Shami, people from various professions, faculty members and a large number of students participated in the event. In his address, Hassan Khawar said one could see good progress wherever the participation of women is high. He said that Hazrat Khadija (R.A) was also an entrepreneur. He said that a large number of women are involved in improving the economy. She said her mother was also a working woman. He said that Islam teaches respect for women in all its forms. He said that whether it was a police station or a civil service, in the past it was considered that it was not for women but now it is common to have a woman deputy commissioner in Punjab. He said that the men must provide the environment to the women they wanted for their sister or daughter. "The future of women is bright," he said. Vice Chancellor Prof. Niaz Ahmad Akhtar said that various activities were organized in Punjab University on the occasion of International Women's Day to highlight their importance. He said that Punjab University recruited around 75% women on merit in fresh appointments. He said that the administration was benefitting from their skills and many heads of departments at PU were women. Dr Saleem Mazhar on the occasion stressed the need to provide equal opportunities for women. "An educated and empowered woman can run her house better and play a role in improving society," he said. He said that it was the responsibility of men to provide facilities to women to make them productive members of the society. Aaliya Hamza said that women can do anything they commit to. She said that they don't need any external support and they can fly with their own wings. MPA Sumaira Bukhari said that women should be heroin of their life and they needed to pamper themselves and believe themselves. MPA Bushra Butt said that we needed to solve the issues by collaborating with each other and ignoring political differences for a common cause of women empowerment. MPA Sadia Sohail Rana said that it’s not about equity or equality, it’s about playing roles while being in their own capacity and respecting and strengthening each other. Dr Savera Shami emphasized on the importance of equity. She said that men and women should respect each other. She said that they are not competitors but should believe in compatibility. She said that this was the time to Break the Bias and support each other to grow and flourish. Dr Ayesha Ashfaq welcomed all the guests and emphasized that we should be agents of change we want to bring. She said that if we wanted to bring gender equity in our lives, we must need to kill the misogynistic attitude towards both genders. She said that this was only possible if we supported each other and tried to break the biases and stereotypes that are associated with us. Transgender Moon Choudhry said that there was exclusivity of transgender community and next year people would see transgender sitting here and celebrating this day. LCCI Chairperson Sam Dada said that women were unique in every role whether it may be of daughter, mother, sister, wife, politician, academician, housewife or any other. Chairperson Labor Federation Syeda Ghulam Fatima said that we needed to listen to our problems from grass root level and solve them instead of focusing on bigger issues and ignoring small ones. Advocate and globally acknowledged women rights activist Marry Gill said that we needed to work for women who are not acknowledged for their jobs and are given titles which are not socially accepted. She said that women should be given their rights and recognized for their participation in society. Director Design Interwood Madiha Jalal said that women empowerment should be there in every aspect of life whether it is professional role taking or home making. Psychologist Dr Aaliya Aftab said that we needed empowerment in every matter even from domestic level. She said that even well educated women are deprived of their rights of succession.