Social stigma : NGOs call for empowering women in land reforms

Experts claim that women are deprived of their basic rights by feudal lords.

KARACHI: Agriculturists and land reform and development experts have said that despite the introduction of land reforms thrice before in the country, subsequent governments have failed to implement these reforms.

They were of the opinion that the issues have rather aggravated the socio-economic conditions of peasant communities in Sindh in particular and in Pakistan in general. These views were expressed in a seminar on ‘Land Reforms in Pakistan: A Woman Peasant’s Aspect’, held on Sunday. The seminar was organised by the Society for Conservation and Protection of Environment (Scope) in collaboration with Oxfam International, Drynet International, Asia Land Coalition and Land Watch Asia.



The speakers informed that over 60 per cent of the country’s population reside in the rural areas while over 80 per cent of them earn their livelihood from agriculture-related products. They said that despite contributing 21 per cent to the national GDP, the state of the peasant communities was deplorable. They further stressed that these condition will not improve without the introduction of land reforms in the country in their true spirit.

Scope chief executive Tanveer Arif, in his speech at the seminar, said that other developing nations such as Turkey, Somalia and Nepal had introduced vital land reforms and implemented them to empower their respective peasant communities, thus improving their socio-economic status. “The situation in Pakistan, however, is entirely the opposite. Neither have land reforms ever been implemented nor have any viable programmes been launched for the socio-economic empowerment of peasant communities,” he lamented.

“It’s a matter of concern those who grow crops have to sleep hungry or go without consuming adequate food that is essential for healthy living,” added Arif.

Sindh Aurat Tanzeem’s Nazeer Qureshi, while speaking on women’s issues said that no society could progress without women empowerment and granting equal rights for women.

Bushra Bano from Khyber-Paktunkhawa said that women farmers toiled all the day in the fields just like their male counterparts. “If men behave sensibly, all the problems pertaining to women could be solved immediately,” she suggested. She advised women to muster courage to face their problems as well as to find solutions for them.

Rida Baji from Balochistan, while depicting the picture of women’s status in her area, said that farmers’ conditions in the province were worse as the feudal lords didn’t allow them to fetch sand from their land. “How can they provide other rights to them?” she questioned.

Highlighting the status for domestic women, she said that women were full time labourers but were not being given the formal status of labourers. She demanded that the government should provide all facilities and security for the women working as domestic labourers.

The seminar was attended by farmers and organizations working on the empowerment of women from across the country.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 1^st, 2013.