HYDERABAD: Women rights activists took out rallies and organised different programmes to mark the International Women’s Day in several Sindh towns on Sunday.

They highlighted problems being faced by women and reiterated calls for implementation of laws on protection of women’s rights in letter and spirit.

Also read: Women's Day: Movers and shakers share their thoughts

In Hyderabad, Awami Workers Party, Home-based Women Workers Federation and Sindh Agriculture General Workers Union staged rallies and held press conferences to mark the day.

Representatives of different NGOs held press conferences and Sindh United Party (SUP) organised a seminar on ‘gender equality and present day challenges’ at the press club.

They said that women should become leaders and play their role for human development. All provincial assemblies had passed resolutions to bring home-based working women within the ambit of labour laws but in Sindh draft of home-based workers’ policy was pending approval with the chief minister, they said. They deplored the Sindh government had not fully implemented its programme launched in 2008 for distribution of land among landless women peasantry and demanded the government immediately distribute land among women and end domestic violence.

A play was staged outside the press club that depicted violence against women in society and inequality.

LARKANA: Speakers at a programme organised by the Pirbhat Women Development Organisation at the press club said that it was easy to frame laws and issue ordinances but difficult to implement them.

Dr Amina Soomro said the government appeared reluctant to implement the Women Protection Act and the Child Marriage Restraint Act 2013. No doubt women were mercilessly killed in the name of honour but women themselves acted inimically to fellow women in domestic affairs.

Advocate Kalpana Devi, chairperson of District Hindu Panchayat Committee, said that murders of both men and women committed in the name of ‘Karo-Kari’ should be prosecuted under Section 302 PPC.

Zulfikar Rajpar, a human rights activist, criticised holding of jirgas by landlords and chieftains despite ban on the practice by Sindh High Court’s Sukkur bench.

Advocate Ms Aliya Rizvi was critical of women for giving no space to fellow women in domestic life and urged the government to ensure implementation of laws on women.

DADU: Many social organisations and NGOs organised programmes in Johi and Kachho in Dadu district to observe the women’s day.

An NGO held a programme in Shadabad village in Kachho in which a large number of village women participated. The village head Akbar Lashari said that illiteracy was on the rise among women in remote areas of the country especially in Sindh.

The Sujag Sunsar Organisation, an NGO, organised a programme in Johi town at which over 40 women and girls, from housewives to working women, spoke on their issues.

Shaheena Panhwer, a student, said that women were discriminated against in their homes and outside. Education promoter Noorulain Leghari said that parents should be persuaded not to restrict women from getting education and choosing their profession.

Moomal Malah, a teacher, said that sometimes parents were cooperative but neighbours or society created problems for girls and working women.

Female Theatre Group leader Roozena said that although her parents encouraged her to work in theatre but other relatives and villagers objected to her work. Some parents did not object to government jobs but fiercely opposed jobs in NGOs and private sector, she said.

SUKKUR: A large number of women rights activists took out a rally to mark the women’s day.

Speakers at the rally, which started from Bin Qasim Park and terminated at the press club, said that women felt themselves insecure inside and outside their homes but Darul Aman was also a place of torment instead of a place of shelter for victimised women.

Published in Dawn, March 9th, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play