Beauty group recognised for skills training for acid attack survivors, digital literacy for home-based businesswomen and anti-harassment workshops, in a country where fewer than three in ten women are in the workforce.
KARACHI: L’Oréal Pakistan has been recognised in the “Inclusive Development and Economic Growth” category at the Sustainable Development Policy Institute’s (SDPI) 29th Sustainable Development Conference, for programmes that help women earn a living, from survivors of acid attacks to women running businesses from home.
The award was presented at the four-day conference and its accompanying Sustainability Investment Expo, held from Nov. 2 to 5 at Allama Iqbal Open University in Islamabad under the theme “Rethinking Development in an Age of Disruption”. The company announced the recognition in a statement from Karachi.
Pakistan ranked third from bottom in the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2026, released in September. Only 28.21pc of women were in the labour force, against 81.46pc of men, women held 6.13pc of senior management and legislative roles, and just 4.9pc of firms were majority-owned by women, Dawn reported.
There were signs of progress: Pakistan’s overall score improved by almost three points, its strongest annual gain in a decade, and it rose to 144th on economic participation from 147th. Programmes that turn skills into income are central to closing the rest of that gap.
Beauty for a Better Life. Backed by the Fondation L’Oréal and run in Pakistan with the Depilex SmileAgain Foundation, the programme trains survivors of domestic violence and acid attacks in beauty skills so they can find salon jobs or work for themselves. The foundation, set up by beautician Masarrat Misbah, has supported acid attack survivors for more than two decades, and many have gone on to work in salons.
Acid attacks remain a stubborn problem. The Acid Survivors Foundation recorded 1,108 attacks affecting 1,375 people between 2007 and 2016, and while reported attacks have fallen since, survivors still face long medical treatment and discrimination when looking for work.
Digital Literacy Program. Supported by the L’Oréal Fund for Women and run with CIRCLE, a Pakistani social enterprise focused on women’s economic inclusion, the programme teaches women digital and financial skills to grow home-based businesses. Many Pakistani women work from home in tailoring, food, crafts and beauty services but lack the online tools to reach customers, a gap highlighted when rural Sindh women artisans drew crowds at an exhibition in Karachi in September.
Stand Up Against Street Harassment. L’Oréal Paris’s global initiative, run in Pakistan with the women’s rights organisation Bedari, teaches people safe ways to intervene when they witness harassment in public spaces. Public safety for women remains a priority in Punjab, where the chief minister gave police four weeks to curb crimes against women last month and Lahore has fitted panic buttons on footbridges.
At the expo, L’Oréal Pakistan also presented L’Oréal for the Future, the French group’s sustainability programme, built around four pillars: managing the climate transition, safeguarding nature, driving circularity and supporting communities.
Several multinationals were recognised at this year’s SDPI event, including Coca-Cola Pakistan, which won in the sustainable cities category for a plastic road project in Islamabad. The conference also honoured former State Bank governor Dr Ishrat Husain with its lifetime achievement award. SDPI, an Islamabad think tank led by Executive Director Dr Abid Qaiyum Suleri, has held the annual conference for nearly three decades.
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