Jazz, Pakistan’s leading digital operator and a part of the VEON Group, has been conferred with the UN Women Asia-Pacific 2022 WEPs Award for a Gender-Inclusive Workplace. This award recognises organizations that have incorporated the right measures to make themselves the preferred employer for women.
“Inclusivity is a big part of everything we do at Jazz. We have incorporated policies and global best practices to pave the way for gender equality within the organization. This recognition validates our holistic approach towards empowering women and renews our vigor as we move forward in our journey of creating a digitally inclusive ecosystem in Pakistan,” said Sabahat Bokhari, Director Diversity and Inclusion at Jazz.
Jazz is an equal opportunity employer. It’s one of the first telecom companies with a high female representation in its executive leadership. Not only does the company promote gender diversity in its work environment, it also has programs focused entirely on attracting and facilitating the female gender. For example, ‘Empower’ – Leadership development program in collaboration with a leading business university in Pakistan; ‘MOMentum’ – phase back program for returning mothers; and ‘She’s Back Returnship Program’ for women looking to return to work following a career break.
The company is also dedicated to enhancing diversity and women’s empowerment in the society and focuses on uplifting women in the society through the power of the internet. Female specific products and services are designed to help address many of the wider gender inequalities by digitally enabling them to access health, financial, and other life-enhancing services.
UN Women launched the Asia-Pacific Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs) Awards in 2020 under WeEmpowerAsia. Launched in 2010 by UN Women and the UN Global Compact, the WEPs are a set of 7 principles that support companies to take a gender-sensitive approach throughout their value chain starting with corporate leadership and looking across the wider value chain from workplace, marketplace and community. To date, more than 7,000 companies have signed the WEPs globally, and in the Asia-Pacific over 1,900 have committed. Jazz was one of the first companies in Pakistan to commit to the WEPs.
As the only regional awards initiative recognizing private sector action for gender equality aligned to the WEPs, the Awards offer a unique opportunity for organizations to showcase their work in a diverse range of areas relevant to women’s empowerment.