“The Labour Department has announced it will include women in the decision-making process. This concept needs to be extended to the grassroots level as well,” Dar said. PHOTO: FILE
The government should formulate new laws to provide social security protection to home-based workers, said participants of an advocacy meeting held on Thursday.
The meeting was held to discuss legislative measures for ensuring economic and social protection for home-based workers.
The participants of the meeting, arranged by the HomeNet Pakistan, included parliamentarians and civil society members.
Ume Laila Azhar, the HomeNet executive director, said that her NGO and several other organisations had been working to formalise the profession of home based workers. “Women workers are an important part of the home-based sector. There are around 12 million women among home-based workers,” she said.
“Our main focus is on introducing a policy for home-based workers. A draft law has been awaiting approval of the Law Department since 2012. Passage of the bill will give home-based workers the right to form collective bargaining unions and to social security,” she said.
She also proposed changes to The Protection Against Harassment of Women at the Workplace Act passed in 2010.
“The definition of ‘employers’ in the act should be widened to include middlemen and contractors. Domestic workers and home-based workers should also be covered,” she said.
Talking to The Express Tribune, Azhar stressed the importance of ensuring protection against harassment for women workers. “It is more widespread there since it is the informal sector,” she said.
Lubna Faisal, a Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz MPA, said that a resolution would be passed in the provincial assembly to ensure that any workplace in the industrial sector that had at least 100 women employees should have female inspection officers.
The participants strongly supported the proposal. They said it would provide women with a more comfortable workplace environment.
Other issues facing home-based workers were also discussed at the meeting. These included the issue of access to market. The participants said that women comprised 41.9 per cent of the work force in the Punjab. They said many of them faced difficulty in selling their goods. To solve the problem, the participants proposed a network including district action committees and various NGOs, to allow women access to the appropriate markets. The parliamentarians supported the proposal.
Speaking to The Express Tribune, MPA Kiran Dar said that women parliamentarians would question the Labour Department regarding the incorrect registration of workers and also bring forward resolutions to address the issue of public transport for women.
“The Labour Department has announced it will include women in the decision-making process. This concept needs to be extended to the grassroots level as well,” Dar said.
MPAs Farzana Butt, Farhana Afzal, Shunila Ruth, Saadia Sohail Rana and Dr Nausheen Hamid attended the meeting. Labour leader Hanif Ramey was also present.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 2nd, 2015.
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