Harassment doesn’t stop us
A recent news story published in The Express Tribune reported a female traffic warden in Lahore who had to get transferred from road duty after she was groped by a man on a motorbike. She said: “I cried at the CTO’s office and he ordered me transferred to the Ticketing Branch. The same thing happened to several other wardens.” The idea of including female traffic wardens in to the field was to make society a safer place for women. Officers thought that once the commuters saw a lady in charge, they would behave themselves. Unfortunately, that was not the case. It is ...
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Money 101: Workplace matters
The workplace is somewhere we head to in order to earn money and yet discussing money in the workplace is one of the most difficult topics to bring up. Do your own thing Starting from something basic as lunch orders – in most urban workplaces the current trend is to order in and split the costs. In this situation the financially prudent individual who brings lunch from home or wants to pay exactly Rs99 for his one order of fries can find himself/herself being labeled as a bad sport, kanjoos and so on. And given that you end up spending 9-10 ...
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My days as a manual labourer
Many of my friends don’t know this but I worked as a manual labourer in my early teenage years. I used to work several hours a day for just Rs20. There weren’t any weekly off days nor were there any extra benefits. If you got sick or were unable to come to work for some reason you couldn’t imagine getting paid those days. In fact, you would end up spending money on a visit to the doctor just so you could get back to your life of servitude. I can only describe those working hours as restless, endless stress. Sometimes, it would be so hard that ...
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Countering harassment: My eyes are up here
Not long ago, at an informal get-together of friends in Karachi our conversation turned to harassment in the workplace. One of my friends mentioned a recurring problem she was having with a male colleague, who seemed to always keep his eyes at a particular location on her body instead of looking her in the eye when talking to her. She could not avoid it as their respective job roles required a lot of communication between the two. This was particularly uncomfortable yet she was unable to raise this either directly with the person in question or with anyone else at ...
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My friend, the special editor
Walking along Goosley Lane in the New Ham borough of London, I saw a notice on the front wall of a house. “Disabled Person”, it said. I wasn’t sure what it meant but I was curious. “The city council makes a slope instead of the edged curb in front of a special person’s house so that their wheelchair could pass into the house easily. They also place this notice on the wall and if you make the mistake of parking your car in his or her way, you will be fined heavily,” said my host in London. He also told me ...
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No wrong time for the right person
I do not understand why some people wait for the ‘ideal conditions’ to initiate their endeavors. People think that they cannot succeed in a society where achieving anything looks impossible. All I can say is that this is simply the approach of losers. I have not come across many successful people who have prospered in ideal conditions, for great successes have always occurred in adversity. I heard once that winners translate dreams into reality and losers translate reality into dreams. The best idea will not work until you work with it. When I heard these sentences for the first time, I ...
Read Full PostTo be a leader worth following
The biggest problems exists in leadership and people rather than any other aspect of a business enterprise. Organisations usually try to sort out opportunities in their productivity and profitability but the real growth lies in attitudes. Organisations try to assess problems in their processes, machines, markets and technology but the biggest source of problem are the people. Weak top managers and decision makers fail to fire those who are not working. They cannot assess whom has the potential to work or not. If they are not working why aren’t they doing so? If leadership was all about monitoring who is working and firing those who are not – ...
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What is she wearing?
I recently joined a firm where most women dress well. But there is one particular girl whose dress sense is admired by many others. As soon as she enters the room all heads turn towards her just to see what is she wearing. Every day she wears something trendy which makes her look different from everyone else. She wears unique kurtas with jeans, long frocks, shirts and complimentary jewellery. I often hear comments like “Did you see her shoes? They must be imported!” but some will hiss “Imported? Give me a break…I saw that in Sunday Bazaar!” While still others would stare in wonder and ask “Where is ...
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Silence on the transgender issue
A recent report by Gallup Pakistan on the attitudes of Pakistanis uncovered that 55% of the population believes transgendered persons should have a special quota in educational institutes and offices, while at the same time, 60% would not like to be friends with them. The Express Tribune ran a similar online poll as a follow-up to the report with the question: “Would you be friends with a transgender person?” The result at the closing of the poll was an even 50 per cent in favour of befriending a transgender person, and 50 per cent against. Keeping in mind the Tribune’s audience, it ...
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