Workers’ rights: Health cover demanded for workers

Govt urged to legislate on occupational safety

LAHORE: A large number of women working in informal settings face health problems resulting from work, participants of a seminar held to launch the Global Week of Action for Safer Workplace said.

Dozens of home-based workers and rights activists attended the event held at the Lahore Press Club.

Ume Laila Azhar, the HomeNet Pakistan executive director, said that the government should take up legislation on occupational health and safety policy for home-based workers at the next session of the assembly.

“The government has notified the Provincial Occupational Safety and Health Council. It now needs to take proactive action with regard to the protection of women working in various sectors,” she said.

Referring to a study on social protection and vulnerability of home-based workers in South Asia, she said that the general state of health of women in the informal sector was dismal. “They suffer from various medical conditions. Around 62 per cent of the aliments last for over two years. The study looked at the condition of HBWs in Lahore and Karachi along with other South Asian cities,” she said.

Azra Shad from Women Workers’ Helpline said that in progressive societies women had excelled in every walk of life. “The achievement is due to certain attitudes relating to the treatment of women in the workplace,” she said.

She said that due to adverse circumstances, a large number of women having education skills were reluctant to work or do business in Pakistan.

Aima Mehmud from the Women Workers’ Union discussed the issue of sexual harassment at workplace. She said women-friendly laws were required to make the environment more conducive to women.

Women workers from several sectors highlighted issues related to conditions at their workplaces. They said they suffered from hypertension, stress and diseases due to a weak immune system, TB, hepatitis B and C due to exposure to dangerous chemicals during their work. They also staged a demonstration.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 5^th, 2015.