July 13, 2007	Friday	Jamadi-us-Sani 27, 1428

ISLAMABAD, July 12: The National Assembly Standing Committee on Women Development on Thursday called for national policy on home-based women workers (HBWWs) to provide them social security and other benefits a registered worker gets from a company.

Thousands of HBWWs in the country according to official statistics produce 15 per cent of the exportable items but remain invisible playing an important role in the national economy.

It is estimated that in Pakistan 75 per cent of the total informal sector consists of home-based women workers but unfortunately their contribution remains unrecognised.

The Labour Policy 2002 has for the first time recognized the home-based work of women while putting on record the fact that they are not covered by any labour welfare organization.

Talking to Dawn, Chairperson of the committee, Begum Mehnaz Rafi, said, “we have asked the labour ministry to prepare a comprehensive policy for the HBWWs, under which their rights could be given a legal cover”.

The labour ministry representative present in the meeting has promised that within three weeks, policy’s first draft would be presented to the committee for consultation. Except for industries and commerce, representatives from health, education and labour ministries were present on the occasion.