Corporate Pakistan has recently developed a fondness for a familiar ritual: appointing a woman to the board and calling it progress.

The announcement is immaculately worded on LinkedIn. The photograph is carefully framed. The applause is immediate and enthusiastic. Diversity, we are assured, is finally taking root. And yet, inside the boardroom, very little actually changes.

To be fair — and fairness matters — competent, accomplished women do exist on corporate boards in Pakistan. Some bring deep sectoral knowledge, regulatory understanding, and the confidence to question entrenched practices. They earn their seats, and in rare cases, they use them meaningfully.

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But they are not the rule. They are the exception that proves how carefully the rule is enforced. The uncomfortable truth is this: most boards do not appoint women to redistribute power. They appoint them to manage perception. This is not a feminist complaint. It is a governance observation.

Corporate power in Pakistan is not threatened by women. It is threatened by women who refuse to be........

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