June 27, 2002	Thursday	Rabi-us-Sani 15, 1423

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window).

PESHAWAR, June 26: Terming sexual harassment one of the major impediments to the way of women joining different organizations, participants at a consultation here on Wednesday proposed that an effective code of conduct be introduced for checking harassment on the basis of gender at the workplaces.

The consultation was organized on “Draft code of conduct for gender justice at the workplace” by the NWFP department of social welfare and women development in collaboration with the Joint Action Committee, the Alliance Against Sexual Harassment (AASHA) and the Violence Against Women (VAW).

The provincial minister for social welfare and women development, Qari Roohullah Madni, was the chief guest of the function at which the country director of Action Aid, Fouzia Saeed, Chief Programme Officer Zubeida Khatoon, lecturer at College of Home Economics, Peshawar, Sadia Rizwana, and the director of the social welfare department, Zareen Imdad Hussain also spoke.

Giving an overview of the draft code prepared by AASHA, Ms Saeed said: “This code of conduct for gender justice builds on the principles of equal opportunity for men and women and their right to earn a livelihood without fear of abuse and harassment.”

She said the draft code defined sexual harassment as “any unwelcome sexual advance, request for sexual favours or other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature, when it interferes with work performance, is made a condition of employment or creates an intimidating hostile or offensive work environment.”

The code, she added, envisaged formation of a three-member standing committee, one of whose member should be a woman in every organization for dealing with the complaints related to gender justice.

The minister remarked that laws were available on almost all the issues, but the main problem was that of their implementation. He said: “Apart from the government, it is also responsibility of an individual to help in the implementation of laws.”

He said that in the developed countries, the cases of sexual harassment were more than they were in Pakistan.

“Enactment of laws is basic for a society, but along with it awareness and changing the general mind-set of the society members is also necessary,” Mr Madni said, adding that the Holy Quran had ordained that women must be respected.

He said the inquiry period for probing into a complaint by the standing committee was three months, which should be reduced.

Zubaida Khatoon was of the view that 21st century was of miracles, as humanity had been agreeing on opinions and principles regarding fundamental rights.

She observed that it would be very difficult to implement the code once it was introduced by the government. She stressed the need for sensitizing the people about the rights of an individual.

Ms Rizwana quoted various verses from the Holy Quran to substantiate her point that Islam had given equal rights to both men and women.

She said the Holy Quran had allowed women to earn their livelihood and had given them the right to inheritance.

Consultation on the draft code will also be held in other provinces, following which the draft would be finalized.