Project launched to improve working conditions for women

ISLAMABAD: A project, ‘Women’s Action for Better Workplaces’, aimed at improving the working conditions for women in public and private sectors and advocating for gender sensitive labour laws, was launched on Monday.

The launching ceremony was organised by the Free and Fair Election Network (Fafen). The one million-Euro project, funded by the embassy of Netherlands will span 24 months.

It will be implemented by the Trust for Democratic Education and Accountability in collaboration with the member organisations of Fafen – Sangat Development Foundation, Centre for Peace and Development, Urban Rural Development Organisation and Now Communities.

The project aims at enhancing capacities of women workers and their organisations to negotiate and advocate with employers, policymakers and legislators for an improved legislative framework and effective implementation of the existing laws.

Inaugurating the project, Ambassador of Netherlands Jeannette Seppen said she fully understands the struggle for empowering women around the world and in Pakistan. She recalled that women of Netherlands were given the right to vote in 1922, which was not much old.

She said a lot had changed and much was changing for good.

“Our history leads us to work together as our problems are same…we believe in Pakistani men and women and have seen progress in empowering women. But still a lot needs to be done,” she said.

Rukhsana Shamma, Programme Manager, said according to the Economic Survey, out of the 98 million women only 14.7 million were officially recognised to be economically active.

“Working conditions for women in the formal sector are not conducive and in line with nationally and internationally accepted standards. The situation in the sector such as brick kilns or home-based industry is even worse. Labour laws in vogue are either gender blind or gender insensitive.”

She said provinces were yet to fully grasp the post-18th Amendment opportunity to revamp labour conditions through improvements to the labour policy, laws and enforcement.

Chairperson of the Punjab Commission on the Status of Women (PCSW) Fauzia Viqar said the lack of data on women workforce was a major impediment in devising appropriate policies.

She said there was a need to know about the facts and figures of working women at the district level.

She said the PCSW was planning to conduct a survey on the participation of women in economic activities as a prerequisite for targeted policies and actions.

Representatives of provincial implementation organisations also talked about the working women conditions in their provinces and identified gaps which could be filled through this programme. They showed the number of working women in each province which was very low.

Executive Director Sangat Development Foundation Zahid Islam from Lahore, Executive Director Centre for Peace and Development Nasrullah Khan from Quetta, Chief Executive National Organisation for Working Communities Farhat Parveen from Karachi and Programme Manager Amir Iqbal of Urban Rural Development Organisation from Peshawar also presented an overview of issues that working women faced at the provincial levels.

Source: Dawn