LAHORE: A walk was held by the Women Action Forum (WAF) along with other support groups and individuals from Charing Cross to the Lahore High Court in commemoration of the National Women Day.

The walk was held in remembrance of the original rally held on the same date in 1983 against Gen Ziaul Haq’s law of evidence.

Participants primarily included members of WAF, Aurat Foundation, SAP-PK, SPO and other organisations, while several women from the civil society also participated.

The members addressed on the occasion, saying they would keep resisting extremism and not bow down to anyone who tried to suppress their rights.

They also said they had achieved a lot over the years but that it was not enough and they must continue struggling for their rights and equality.

EVENT: South Asia Partnership-Pakistan (SAP-PK), Aurat Foundation (AF), Strengthening Participatory Organisation (SPO) and Sungi Development Foundation (SDF) organised an event under AAWAZ, a voice and accountability programme, to observe National Women Day.

The event marked the struggle of women in all fields throughout the history of Pakistan to demand equal rights.

The event focused on the rights of women domestic workers. Each organisation had invited a large number of community women from far-flung areas of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Speakers included Shazia Shaheen from SPO, Mumtaz Mughal from AF, Aima Mehmood from the Working Women Organisation, Bushra Khaliq from WISE and Shabnum Rasheed SAP-PK who spoke about the plight and insecurities of domestic workers, especially women.

The speakers said domestic workers were different from home-based ones as they did not work at their house but were employed at others’.

However, in Pakistan their working conditions were not in concurrence with ILO conventions as they did not receive a minimum wage, had to work overtime without pay, occasionally made to do things not discussed prior to employment and endure sexual and physical abuse.

A lot of children were also working as domestic workers, which meant instead of studying and playing they took care of others’ children and had to support their own families, they added.

The speakers emphasised on the importance of implementing legislation for economic and social protection of domestic workers. They said mostly domestic workers faced physical and sexual violence by employers and many were often even beaten to death.

Bushra Khaliq said there was a huge class difference in the societal set-up that was the root cause of inequality among citizens, and poor women and children were more vulnerable to this discrimination.

She said there were approximately over 10 million women domestic workers in Pakistan and among those only 30,000 were registered recently in Islamabad.

Aima Mehmood emphasised on the self-respect of domestic workers and said there should be sanctions or a ban on child workers.

Shabnam Rasheed highlighted the importance of registration of domestic workers as well as written contracts between them and their employers. She also said there should be a regulatory authority under the local government.

Aimal Khattak spoke about legislation for domestic workers, saying this was expected to be a revolutionary change as women workers would get their due rights and self respect if their issues were reflected in national policies and legislation.

SAP-PK Programme Coordinator Naeema Malik shed light on the historical perspective of the day. She said on Feb 12, 1983 the WAF and Women Lawyers Association had held a rally in Lahore at The Mall against discriminatory laws and the controversial law of evidence proposed by military dictator Gen Zia. She said both women and men had expressed strong resistance against the law. Most of them were beaten by police and arrested.