PESHAWAR: Working women face accommodation problem
By Sadia Qasim Shah
PESHAWAR, Nov 18: Working women and self-financing university students hailing from remote areas of the province are facecing problems because of shortage of hostels in the city.
Haseena, 25, who works in an international organization, has no other option but to go back to her village and quit the job as her landlord wants her to vacate the annexe where she lives with four other working women.
There is no good hostel for working women with necessary facilities in the provincial capital. Women, including students of the private universities and colleges, who come from the rural and tribal areas, specially face accommodation problems.
There are private hostels, mostly in residential areas like the University Town and Hayatabad, but the women in those face problems because of lack of facilities and over crowdedness.
"Usually five to six women share a room with the capacity for two and the charges are high," said Shazia, who works in a non-government organization.
She has rented a portion of a house in Hayatabad for Rs3,000 per month. She paid Rs1,500 per months in a private hostel in University Town, where she shared a room with four other women.
"Working women with low salaries face numerous problems because most of them cannot afford to rent a house," Shazia said. Security is a major issue for women living in private hostels or rented houses.
"The government should establish hostels for women because many belonging to other districts who want to work or study here are not given permission by their parents because of accommodation problem," said a woman.
"There is no mess facility, refrigerator or television in our hostel," said Asma, a working woman living in Hayatabad.
A hostel building in Notia remains neglected. It could help solve the problem of accommodation for working women, said Shumaila, a district council member.
The building, which belonged to the district government, was in good condition, she said. She said there were sufficient funds to run the hostel but the government's apathy was the main hurdle in this regard.
Shumaila, who is a member of the social welfare committee, said she had proposed that the district government hostel in Notia should be made functional but no meeting of the committee had been called because of a tussle over its chairpersonship.
The women's development and social welfare department had recently prepared a plan to open a hostel for working women and the rooms were furnished but the project hit snags.
