As part of International Women’s Day, Maryam Rasul, a member of the London Dawoodi Bohra community, talked about her experiences as a mother, a family support worker, and setting up her own businesses in a recent event entitled ‘Discussions Across the Globe.’ This virtual platform, hosted by Build Your Business Training and Women in Business (Hull, UK), focussed on what it is like to be a woman working in business in today’s world. Topics of discussion included maternity/paternity leave, gender inequalities in the workforce and at home, childcare options for working parents, educational opportunities for women as well as how expectations of women have changed as a result of COVID-19.
All panellists spoke about their personal perspectives and shared their impassioned views on the screen, while attendees from all over the world joined the discussion and held an equally charged conversation in the chat box.
During her speech, Maryam shared how she faced gender bias in her professional life. In a business expense she had submitted entitled ‘Elevated Elephant’, a male colleague commented that she could not expense her ‘yoga’ class where in fact ‘Elevated Elephant’ was her business coaching.
Maryam also referenced historical figures of female empowerment who inspire young women today such as Queen Arwa of Yemen, the Prophet Mohmmed’s consort Khadija and Cleopatra among others. She also admired the efforts of great women such as the Suffragettes, Maya Angelou, Malala Yusufzai, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Maryam ended by saying,
“Running a business is definitely a step in the right direction and we deserve to move forward with confidence; it is a right that our ancestors fought for. They paved the road for us to get this far and we will continue their legacy in the progress we make to pave the road for women for generations to come.”