Senior female professionals discuss “Economic Empowerment of Women”

AMP is committed to give equal and fair representation to Muslim Womenin all its endeavors – AamirEdresy
Women’s Day iscelebrated all over the world on 8th March every year. As thename implies, it is dedicated to celebrating womanhood, their social,political, cultural, economic achievements and their significant contributionsto the society. The day also emphasizes the importance of gender equality.
Islam too encourages women to be progressive within defined parameters ofSharia.

Association of Muslim Professionals (AMP) celebrated the Strength of Womanhood with a discussion on‘EconomicEmpowerment of Women in Muslim Community’. The program was held at AllIndia Khilafat House in South Mumbai. The meeting was attended by veryexperience and learned females from different walks of life.

The programstarted with the introduction of all the participants who gave an insight of theirvaried personal and professional backgrounds. AMP member Adv. Sabiha Ansari who works as a public prosecutor with SEBI gave an overview on the current statusof the Muslim Women in the Community and Society. She discussed in detail aboutthe AMP initiative of drafting a National Economic Development Roadmap forMuslims and explained about the need of female participation and empowermentwithin that plan.

Mrs. ZubeidaKhadwani, who is the owner of KhandwaniGroup spoke about her rich experienceand association in various social activities for the upliftment of the Muslimcommunity. She said, “Education is the basic right of every human beingirrespective of the gender. Education inculcates a sense of goodcharacter and makes a positive mindset of an individual”.

Miss. RumanaSiddique has been a very active volunteer with AMP for the past 1 year. Sheexpressed her viewpoint mentioning, “Being a professional teacher I feel themost important aspect of development of Women is Counseling. Workshops for Parents and Teachers must beencouraged in order to counsel thegirls from the school level itself. There are many girls who face abuse andtorture at a young and tender age in their life. A helping hand in formof counselling can save many live from unforeseen incidents”.

ProfessorFalaknaaz Danish who is the principal of a law college run by a reputededucational group in the city also gave her insights on Freedom of Speech,Expression and Practice and how these things are wrongly understood by many.
She said, “In the name of Empowerment exercised by females, assertionmay become rebellion or revolt if complete Sharia as well as Constitutional
Legal Education is not provided to them”.

Mrs. NasreenKhan who works on a senior position with BPCL shared her experience on lack ofconfidence in Muslim Girls. She also spoke that Muslim Girls are highlytalented and we must give them equal opportunity and increase their confidence.

Mrs. Ainul Attara senior beauraucrat from Government of Maharashtra said, “We need to educatethe girl child as one woman educates an entire family”. She emphasized on theneed of Muslim Females to join Government Services.

Mrs.Rakshanda Hani, HOD Economics from Maharashtra College said that “The mainagenda should be to reach out to more and more Muslims and help them in beingself-sufficient by creating jobs and employment opportunities, which in turnwill eradicate poverty from the community”.

Miss. SadiyaMerchant who works as a crime reporter with Urdu Times gave very crisp andclear views on the matter. She said, “Our prime objective should be toeradicate poverty from within the Muslim Community and it cannot be donewithout empowering the Muslim Women”.

President ofAMP, Mr. AamirEdresy gave his insights on the entire discussion. He said
“Everyday is women’s day practically and Islamically. Women are the key personin every family who selflessly work from dawn to dusk binding the whole familytogether”. He highlighted that discrimination is a major problem in ourCommunity. He added “We are still following age old culture and traditionswhich are difficult to understand and solve. The only breakthrough isempowering and educating women to stand on their own feet for a brighterfuture”. He said, “Female participation must be increased at all levels in the society. This will contribute towards Economic Developmentthereby getting translated into the development of the entire Muslimcommunity”. AMP is working on a new initiative called Economic DevelopmentPlan for Indian Muslims and AMP is committed to give fair representation to
Muslim Women in all its endeavors.

Miss.Muzammil Banatwalla who works as a Senior Project Coordinator coordinated theentire program and spoke about the different projects that AMP works in thedomains of Education and Employment. Overall, the group of women whoattended the programmewere self-motivated and enjoyed the discussion. Therewas healthy participation leading to very important ideas that are the currentissues within the community.

AMP believesthat Women are the center of every person life. Hence, it is veryimportant to understand their perspectives to move forward in bringing theMuslim Community at par with others in the Society. We at AMP look forward tomore female participation in the coming years.