With an atmosphere full of excitement and empowerment, the IWD Women Techmakers 2020 event powered by GDG Cloud Islamabad and Women Techmakers Islamabad was held at the National Incubation Center to honour the achievements of women in technology and many other sectors, with an exciting lineup of speakers, panel discussions and workshops to bring forward a powerful message of inclusivity and gender equality.
Yamna Rehman from S&P Global informing everyone about the lack of women in leadership and workforce positions and how these can be reprimanded with self-promotion and discarding archaic stereotypes.
GDG Cloud Islamabad team with attendees holding the placards
Non-technical workshops were also held in areas like Public Speaking, CV writing and Google’s self-confidence initiative for women, #IAmRemarkable, hosted by Irum Zahra, T4D consultant and founder of The Talent Generation Zara Shafique, CEO of Anzen Ershian Anwar, and world-reputed documentary and journalistic photographer Tamara Robeer to help people gain indispensable skills in a highly interactive and engaging manner.
A series of invigorating technical workshops were also conducted for the attendees, with the participants brushing up on their skills in technologies like Firebase, Github, Machine Learning through Tensorflow and the Google Cloud platform with instructors like Machine Learning Google Developer Expert Imran Us Aslam, Ali Ayub Khan from Jazz, CEO of Testify Mariam Aslam, and SEM Specialist at Code Informatics and co-founder of Testify Fahad Ali respectively.
Women Techmaker Ambassador and GDG Cloud Islamabad Manager Irum Zahra conducted #IamRemarkable workshop.
A series of panel discussions were also held to present various perspectives and opinions and incite conducive discussion. One of these was ‘Women at Work’, consisting of working women from varying sectors. , namely Hina Adil from Nestle, Founder of Inspire Mill Sidra Jalil, Chief HR Officer at U Microfinance Bank Amra Mubashir, and radio host at Radio Pakistan Syeda Yumna Hasany. The panellists highlighted the laurels of an empowered and female-friendly workforce and their fights against systemic bias and gender discrimination.
Women Techmaker Ambassador and GDG Cloud Islamabad Manager Irum Zahra presented shield of appreciation to Romela Hameed, a survivor of the 2005 earthquake who fought to rebuild herself personally and professionally, and with her startup ‘SmT’ exemplified the reality that disability is never a hindrance, but just a different lifestyle.
Adil Jalil from Sedenius Technologies gave some inaugural remarks about his company’s expertise with major automobile companies like Audi and BMW, and how they are striving to recruit more women in the fields of coding and machine learning.
Attendees took many photos with GDG Cloud Islamabad team holding the placards
We had a housefull during the IWD2020 Event ! Wohoo !!
Entrance to the venue
The event was concluded with a hi-tea and networking session where students, graduates and experts got the opportunity to connect with each other, followed by a cake-cutting ceremony by the organizing team.