Aurat March focuses on food insecurity

The annual Aurat March, a protest march usually held on March 8 to mark International Women's Day, took place on Sunday in which a large number of women, civil society, and members of marginalized groups including the transgender community participated in large numbers.

The march, now in its sixth year, focused on food insecurity and inflation.

It's rallying cry was "Riyasat jawab dau, bhook ka hisaab dau (The State needs to answer to those who have to go hungry)." The march included fiery speeches and firebrand poetry, and included performances and testimonies from groups as diverse and disparate as bonded labourers, sextortion victims, cases of gender-based violence and the plight of the flood-hit among others.

There was also a wide array of banners and placards, with inventive slogans including those on body autonomy.

The speakers and participants demanded that women should be given opportunities in every field on the basis of gender parity.

They also demanded an end to domestic violence, enforcement of Transgender Persons Protection Act 2018 and law against forced conversion.

While addressing the participants, social activist and classical dancer Shema Kirmani said: "Pakistan is facing a financial crisis which is also affecting women.

The negative effects of this crisis are not only physical but also mental for women." She added that the poor class was increasingly facing hunger which has led to an increase in suicides.