Sofia Reza shared the post on her LinkedIn profile. (Unsplash)
A Pakistani career mentor was slammed by social media users for sharing a post questioning the work ethics of female employees. Sofia Reza, a “career mentor” and “talent developer” shared the post on her LinkedIn profile.
In her post, Ms Reza said that women candidates show up for interviews about 50 per cent of the time whereas male candidates show up 80 per cent of the time. She argued that women use the excuse "family emergency" while men sort out their job or family issues to ensure they show up.
In her lengthy LinkedIn post, she wrote, "If we are to believe female candidates, it seems half the families across Pakistan are always having a "family emergency". Even senior experienced female professionals have this same problem and use the same excuse. It's an epidemic that even the WHO hasn't figured out yet.
Let's not deny this simply if we're female too. Let's own up and try to improve ourselves as professionals and develop a better commitment level."
See the post here:
Her post sparked outrage on social media platforms. A user wrote, "Dear Sofia, Your post is inaccurate, illogical and downright demeaning towards women. It's sad you had to resort to this kind of post to get engagement on Linkedin."
Another user commented, "I do not agree with this point. This perspective may vary from person to person. As I have seen many male candidates giving lame/ambiguous reasons so the interview can be rescheduled."
"It's exceptionally difficult for women in Pakistan to pursue a career, given how patriarchy has such a strong hold on our lives. Rather than telling the employer that suddenly the men in their families are no longer supportive of their careers/opportunity to step out of the house, its easier to say it a Family emergency to save themselves from the embarrassment," the third user wrote.
The fourth user asked, "You do know the majority of men do not take any household-related responsibilities right? RIGHT?"
"Is this simply her wild imagination or there is data behind this? Pakistanis share anything when it's designed in a JPEG. Self-claimed mentor,” a user asked.