Labour Day: ‘Women need to study agriculture’

Women workers need to realise that they have equal rights: speaker.

LAHORE:

South Asia Partnership-Pakistan (SAP-PK) organised a conference, A Tribute to the Struggle of Women Peasants and Workers, on Friday at the Alhamra on The Mall in commemoration with Labour Day.

The SAP-PK coordinator, Shabnam Rashid, opening the forum with a welcome address, said, “Women peasants are the hardest working of the working class. Unfortunately, they are not recognised as workers.”

Another speaker, Aurat Foundation’s Shaban Naz said, “Women workers need to realise that they have equal rights.” Naz said that women face problems due to double standards rife in society. She stressed the need for women to study agriculture at the school level so that they have a better understanding of modern techniques.Rubina Jamil, president of Pakistan Working Women’s Organisation, said, “Pakistan needs to initiate legislation on the ILO convention so that the informal sector has rights. The sector is a large contributor to the national income.”

Published in The Express Tribune, May 7^th, 2011.