Pandemic affecting women's earning in Pakistan

NGO also claims ‘unprecedented increase in incidents of violence’

PESHAWAR:

The Aurat Foundation, a non-governmental organisation working for women's rights in Pakistan, has said that the coronavirus has severely affected women in the country, both in labour and domestic businesses.

"Incidents of violence rose unprecedentedly," said Yasmeen Mughal, the project officer of 'Jazba' programme, while addressing the closing ceremony of a two-day training workshop on women's participation in the political process and local government system in Quetta jointly organised by the Aurat Foundation and the South Asia Partnership.

Mughal said that the coronavirus has severely affected women involved in economic activities in Pakistan and significant steps were needed to rehabilitate them at the government and non-governmental levels, otherwise millions of middle-class families in the country would be at an economic disadvantage.

“They will be forced to live below the poverty line and the monster of poverty in the country will further increase,” she said, adding that the Aurat's Foundation and the South Asia Partnership have all available resources for the welfare and development of women in Pakistan.

"The two organisations will take joint steps for effective participation of women in the economic and political process at the district level under the Jazba project, while special attention will be paid to legislation for women's individual and constitutional rights," she added.

On the occasion, Allauddin Khilji, the regional director of Aurat Foundation, Quetta, said that a society free from violence can guarantee sustainable development.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 5^th, 2020.