Women demand equal pay, better working conditions

Marchers converge in downtown on International Women's Day

KARACHI:

Women from across the city took part in a solidarity march on International Women's Day, calling for the repeal of laws that were discriminatory towards women and to ensure implementation of minimum wage laws.

The Home-Based Women Workers Federation (HBWWF) organised the march. Groups from different organisations merged with the marchers the roundabout near Zainab Market and marched towards the Pakistan Arts Council, Karachi.

The participants held banners and placards including tributes to prominent women including Fatima Jinnah, Benazir Bhutto, Asma Jahangir, Shanta Bukhari and others. They also chanted slogans for women's rights.

"We are over 50 per cent. Without our participation, the country can not progress," said marcher Zareen Rafi.

Speakers at the march said that women workers were the one of the worst affected groups due to layoffs from factories and workplaces. They said that the economic crisis and runaway inflation had made the situation worse for such workers.

Honour killings, forced marriages

The women’s wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) in Karachi marched to the press club as part of women’s day celebrations in the city. A large number of women, belonging to all walks of life, participated in the walk. They were carrying slogans about men and women being companions and not competitors.

The party’s head in Karachi, Hafiz Naeemur Rehman, demanded an end to archaic customs and practice like karo kari (a form of honour killing) and marriage to the holy book. In some parts of Sindh, women were married to the Holy Quran in order to protect the family’s inheritance.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, March 9^th, 2023.