Domestic violence, harassment highlighted at women’s moot
The third two-day Women's Conference at Arts Council of Pakistan, Karachi, concluded on Friday with thought provoking sessions on women empowerment, harassment and digital media activism besides other gender sensitive issues.
The second and the final day of the conference witnessed entertaining art performances and interactive sessions.
The conference was started with a session "Working Women: Women Labor and Economic Empowerment Issue", which was attended by Sindh Secretary Labour Laiq Ahmad Khan, Farhat Parveen, Bushra Arain, Zahra Akbar Khan, and Sabhaghi Bheel. The session discussed the existence of working woman in Pakistan and the struggle a working woman go through at her work place.
A session on Violence and Harassment was also a part of the last day of the conference in which Amber Sindhu, Sheema Kirmani, Nuzhat Shirin and Parveen Rind spoke about violence and harassment against women.
Expressing her views on the occasion, Amber Sindhu said that women who endure violence to save their home, do not protect their home, but fail to protect themselves from domestic violence.
She said that the death toll from violence in Pakistan is higher than in Afghanistan and Iraq. In Pakistan, a woman's own husband, brother and brother-in-law are her killers. FIRs are registered to identify the culprits but it takes 10 years for the accused to come to a verdict. The judicial system of Pakistan need to be improved for the accused involved in violence cases can be punished as soon as possible," Sindhu said.
While addressing the audience, Sheema Kirmani said that violence has many types, which includes restrictions and deprivation of an individual's rights. The social pressures and systems in our society do not allow us to stand against the restriction a woman faces.
Kirmani said that women are not aware about their rights. The Women's Development Department needs to be further improved. She said that the male vice chancellor should be removed from women's universities and women should be appointed. New idea to educate women's about empowerment should be discussed and implemented by the government.
Read More: On the road to women empowerment
At the end the session, all the women in the hall stood in favor of the oppressed women and observed a minute of silence.
Another interactive session on "Digital Media Activist" was also a significant part the conference. Mohammad Moeez, journalist Mahim Mehr, Qirat Mirza, Huda Bhargari spoke at the occasion while Aafreen Sehar was the moderator.
Bakhtawar Mazhar gave a dramatic performance on Sabahat Zahra's writing called "Chapa Bhar Aasman". The audience rocked to the live music performances by notable actor and singer Kaif Ghaznavi.
Poetry session
The day was concluded with a poetry session called "Khawateen Ka Aalmi Mushaira", which was presided over by Shahida Hassan and directed by Umbereen Haseeb Anbar. Meanwhile, Fatima Hassan, Tanveer Anjum, Humaira Rehman, Rukhsana Saba, Nasira Zuberi and Humaira Rahat presented their speeches during the session. Shahida Hassan, Yasmeen Hameed, Dr Nusrat Mehdi, Dr Sarwat Zahra, Naseem Syed, Pervaiz Jafari and Hamida Shaheen were among the participants in the online poetry recital.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 12th, 2022.