THATTA, April 30: Projecting the women of Sindh, particularly of the rural areas, as being less intelligent, ignorant and stupid by a circle of intelligentsia was unjustified.

This was stated by noted academician, poetess and writer Apa Mariam Majidi while speaking at a media workshop organised by the International Press Communication at the local press club on Tuesday.

Contrary to the image portrayed by a particular section of the intelligentsia, Ms Majidi said, the women of Sindh had proven themselves to be visionaries and pioneers in various crafts.

She contended that allocation of meagre resources on part of the government, poverty, lack of communications, limited access to education facilities combined with illiteracy, working in the agricultural sector and the male-dominated society had affected the women of the interior of Sindh.

Notwithstanding their shortcomings, she said, the women of rural areas of Sindh had demonstrated their expertise in fields as disparate as weaving, agronomy, education, politics and social welfare.

Criticizing the intelligentsia in Sindh for keeping quite over the plight of the women in Sindh, she said that victimisation of the women in the interior of the province, specially over the pretext of Karo-kari, had been taken up by the media.

The Sindhi media in particular, she said, was doing its job to restore the rights of women in Sindh.

Prof Shahida Qazi, Ms Sheen Farrukh, Ayesha Sodho, Jan Khaskheli, Yar Mohammad Jalalani, Qadir Ranto, Neelam Abbasi and Ismail Memon also spoke on the occasion.