Rural Women Day: Two-day conference to start today

Event includes sessions on women’s development, challenges.

A two-day conference to mark Rural Women Day will open on Wednesday (today) at 9:30am at Lok Virsa.

The “sixth national conference” features a tribute to Malala Yousafzai by Aniqa Raza and will officially be opened by rural leader from Sindh, Veeru Kohli.

Keynote speakers include Khawar Mumtaz, the chairperson for the National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW), Lars-Gunnar Wigemark, ambassador of the European Union and Nuzhat Sadiq, head of the women wing of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).

An exhibition will also be showcased at the event

The session on “Implementing pro-women laws: Challenges and opportunities” will be chaired by Yasmin Abbasi, the federal ombudsperson for the Anti-Sexual Harassment Law and moderated by Mumtaz of NCSW. Speakers for the session include Mehr Taj Rohani, adviser to the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa chief minister on social welfare, Anis Haroon, Supreme Court lawyer Salman Akram Raja and Dr Farzana Bari.

A documentary “Veeru Goes to Poll” will be screened followed by a question and answer session with Veeru Kohli.

The third session will discuss “Local government system and rural women in leadership.” A musical concert and theatre play will be performed for the participants.

On Thursday, the first session will discuss “Rural women and sustainable development”.

The second session, “Voices of women in peace and pluralism”, will be addressed by Anis Haroon of the Women Action Forum, Mossarrat Qadeem of Paiman, an NGO, Fatima Atif and Rehana Hashmi.

At the concluding ceremony, the keynote address will be delivered by former National Assembly speaker Dr Fehmida Mirza. A number of awards will also be given to various people for their contribution towards women’s development.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 30^th, 2013.