Women’s Day: Unions urged to promote women’s participation

Veteran unionist demands establishment of day-care centres at all workplaces

LAHORE:

All Pakistan Workers’ Confederation general secretary Khurshid Ahmed on Tuesday stressed the need to ensure wage parity between men and women.

He was speaking at a rally to mark the International Working Women’s Day. He said the government had yet to implement a 15 per cent quota for women in educational institutes.

Ahmed said all employers should be directed to set up daycare centres on their premises. He urged unions to promote women’s participation in their activities. He said at least 30 percent representation of women should be ensured in general membership and in leadership positions.

The City Traffic Police held a ceremony to honour its women officials’ role in managing traffic. Gift hampers were distributed amongst women officials. National Safety Officer Tasleem Shuja said female wardens had been performing duties with exemplary honesty and dedication.

In a statement on Tuesday, the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) said that the progress made on women’s rights had been due to women’s own struggles. It lamented the lack of progress on commitments made under the Beijing Declaration and the Platform for Action.

The statement stressed the need for joint struggles by human rights and women rights organisations. It said gender equality could be attained only if women’s movement and the human rights’ movement worked side by side.

Several ceremonies and seminars were held at educational institutes to mark the day.

In a seminar at Punjab University’s Department of Gender Studies, speakers said that women should not restrict their activities to their homes.

They said there could be no progress in the country without women’s empowerment. Aurat Foundation’s Mumtaz Mughal congratulated the audience on the enactment of the women protection law.

Other speakers were Dean Zakria Zakir; Strengthening Participatory Organisation (SPO) director Salman Abid Regional’ Family Planning Association of Pakistan (FPAP) regional director Sarfaraz Kazmi; and a United Nations youth representative Anosha.

At another seminar, University of Engineering and Technology (UET) Vice Chancellor Fazal Ahmad Khalid said the university believed in empowerment of women. Dr Atiya Syed said that women should not restrict themselves to a few professions only and encouraged them to try various occupations.

Women’s Day was celebrated by various organisations throughout the city by hosting special programmes for women. The Well Women Clinic under the aegis of the My health Programme was launched at Fatima Memorial Hospital on Women’s Day. This programme was launched to make women understand the importance of their health status and the role it plays in their careers.

The programme aims to evaluate the current health status of men and women from all ages with the help of qualified consultants and comprehensive screening. It offers a variety of packages suited to the needs and requirements with the convenience of testing and consultation under one roof.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 9^th, 2016.