Pakistani game development studio leading way for gender equality, women empowerment

ISLAMABAD: The company WeRplay has become the first game development studio in Pakistan to step up its commitment towards improving gender diversity within its business model by signing the Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEP), with support from United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women).

UN Women and WeRplay will be working together to enhance women’s access to organised work opportunities. The seven Women’s Empowerment Principles – a joint initiative of UN Women and the UN Global Compact – provide a set of guidelines to assist companies to focus on key elements integral to promoting gender equality in the workplace, marketplace and community through policy and action.

They include the promotion of women to executive positions, provision of career development opportunities for women employees, supporting women-owned companies as vendors and service providers, promoting a positive image of women in marketing campaigns and enhancing basic facilities within the company (childcare, maternity and paternity leaves, flexible work options etc).

Country representative for the Pakistani chapter of UN Women Jamshed Kazi congratulated WeRplay for committing to integrate these seven principles.

“Empowering women within the corporate sector starts by recognizing the different challenges that men and women face in our society, both in terms of household responsibilities and professional development. For decades, men have had higher access to career opportunities, resources and decision-making as compared to women,” he said.

He said that it was only through positive action and conscious efforts that real change could be brought out, adding that companies had a key role to play as “change agents” to build a world where gender equality was a reality and in which women could confidently assume managerial positions.

Winner of three P@SHA awards for gender diversity in 2014, 2015 and 2016, WeRplay already hires a staff of which 37 percent is composed of women and among which 12 women are in managerial positions. This is in stark contrast to the representation of women otherwise – only 0.2 percent professionally qualified women work in the information and technology sector.

Speaking on the occasion, WeRPlay CEO Mohsin Afzal said: “This partnership with UN Women symbolises our commitment to support the empowerment of women through our overall corporate activities. At WeRplay, we believe in the creation of an inclusive work environment where men and women can contribute to their full potential. This includes building a fun, autonomous and safe workplace where creativity and participatory working practices are encouraged. Embracing flexibility and building trust among each other is essential to enable employees to combine work and family demands.”

He said that the company offered its employees flexible timings, an equal opportunity of growth, travel allowances, lunch and other snacks, an in-house sports area, a game room, library, trainings, trips, team building activities and medical insurance.

WeRplay is planning to undertake a comprehensive gender audit of its policies to get a full picture of the strengths and challenges of the company in terms of women’s empowerment. Conducted with the support of UN Women, this assessment will help identify windows of opportunities to deepen the involvement of the company in gender equality initiatives. The company will also take part in diverse events organized by UN Women where private companies will discuss recent pioneer thinking and exchange good practices to enhance women’s participation in the corporate sector.

The economic participation of women is recognized globally as essential for the progress of a nation and growth of its economy. By signing the seven steps of the Women’s Empowerment Principles, WeRplay takes on a global approach that 1644 companies have already taken in the world. To date, 25 companies in Pakistan have made a public commitment of support by signing onto the Women’s Empowerment Principles.