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| March 09, 2007 | Friday | Safar 19, 1428 |
Legislation on home-based workers sought
ISLAMABAD, March 8: Chairperson National Assembly Standing Committee on Women Development Begum Mehnaz Rafi Thursday asked the National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW) to make recommendations for formulation of a national policy on home-based workers.
She made this suggestion while speaking at a seminar on “Celebrating Working Women: Breaking Boundaries, Driving Change” organized by the International Labor Organization (ILO) in connection with the International Women’s Day here.
Chairperson NCSW Dr Arifa Syeda Zehra also spoke on the occasion.
A latest report on “Global Employment Trends for Women” released by the ILO on Wednesday was also shared with the participants.
“There is dire need for making some kind of legislation under which home-based workers could be registered, provided social security and all kinds of protection enjoyed by any formal labor sector, and I believe NCSW is the best institution for the purpose,” Ms Rafi said.
“Unfortunately, over the years nothing has been done in this regard due to which domestic workers are continuously suffering at the hands of their employers,” she added.
There is no bar on age, no set pay packages and no working hours. In case of casualty the victim does not enjoy security cover, she said.
In her remarks, the NCSW chairperson informed the participants that the commission had already started working on this sector and would soon come up with recommendations for framing a national policy on domestic workers.
Speaking with reference to the International Women’s Day, Ms Zehra called for a change in attitude towards women workers and termed education the only prescription for a positive change in people’s behavior towards working women. “It is really strange that women are contributing a lot to the national economy but their share is never acknowledged,” Ms Zehra said.
“Actually, we are reluctant to provide women with a level playing field because we are yet to accept them as an individual. Instead, we blame them for every evil in the society,” she added.
According to the ILO report issued in connection with the International Women’s Day, more women are in work than ever before, but a persistent gap in status, job security, wages and education between women and men is contributing to the feminization of working poverty.
Federal Secretary for Labour and Manpower Malik Asif Hayat was chief guest, while John J. Moore, Charge d’ Affairs Canadian High Commission, was the guest of honor.
Other prominent speakers were Prof Aliya H. Khan, Chairperson Department of Economics, Quaid-i-Azam University; Huma Aziz from Pakistan Workers Federation and Iftikhar Randhawa from Employers Federation of Pakistan, who highlighted various challenges in diversifying job opportunities for women in the country.
Mr Hayat said the government was taking every possible measure to provide better social security to women workers. He also mentioned that the government in collaboration with ILO had endeavored to enlarge economic opportunities for women and set up vocational training programmes and capacity building activities.
Mr Donglin Li, Director ILO, Pakistan, said that promotion of rights at work was the principal mandate of ILO and gender equality was a cross-cutting concern.
ILO believes that gender-based discrimination violates fundamental principles and rights at work, it weakens economic growth and the optimal functioning of enterprises and labor markets, he said.
In the beginning, Dr Tauqir Hussain Shah, National Project Coordinator ILO, talked about significance of the event from ILO’s perspective.
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