May 4, 2006

“I hire and fire as I please.
No government is going to tell
Me how to run my factory.
And no union is ever going to order me!
This is a free country.
I buy the mayor, the police and the senators!”
Vincent Ferrini

In a veritable parade of different days being celebrated through out the globe, International Labour Day brings a sense of belonging to the workers of the world. It also provides recognition for the women labourers who get extensive coverage in seminars, rallies, protests, and of course, in the media. Unequal pay, lack of safety and welfare, harassment, and the so-called existing labour laws in the context of women workers, are discussed in detail.

Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs) working for the plight of these women examine policies and put emphasis in line with the ILO Conventions and other Declarations, to judge the negative impact of labour policies on their lives. Thus, the issue is discussed in detail, otherwise no significant change has occurred in women labourers’ living conditions.

In the history of Pakistan, human rights abuses have always been common. Women labourers suffer from inadequate wages, compulsory overtime, sexual harassment and verbal abuses in their work places.

Pakistan is also a member of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), and has an obligation to respect, promote and realise the principles concerning the fundamental rights that are the subjects of certain conventions.

Despite adverse circumstances and societal pressures women participation in the economic activities have increased manifold. Today the number of women employed at agricultural and construction sites are much higher than before. The reason behind this is the ruthless capitalist mind-set, that employs more women and children, pays them less, and gathers huge profits. Women labourers are paid less than their male counterparts, even though they do the same degree of work.

It is a poignant scenario; the take-home salary of these women barely meets their basic needs. Around 79.4 per cent of rural women are engaged in agriculture as against 60.8 per cent of rural men. They participate in the production of major crops, maintaining livestock and harvesting forests. Their heavy workload with dual responsibility for farm and household is tremendous, which has been grossly under-reported in various census documents and surveys.

A large proportion of female labour force is of unskilled labourers, who are migrants and usually become bonded when their labour is demanded as a means of repayment for a loan, or for money given in advance. Many of these women fall into prostitution.

Cross-border trafficking of women and children became very common in the 1990s. It is also linked to migration and placement of women in better-off households.

Girls and women from rural areas are trafficked to urban centres for forced commercial exploitation or bonded labour. The strong demand of female household workers in the Middle East has provided an ideal environment to the networks of the flesh traders to flourish.

In the agricultural sector, sexual harassment and abuse by employers or their family members is a daily routine. They have considered it their birthright to sexually abuse and even rape female workers.

The human, economic, and social costs paid by women labourers are immense. They struggle for their survival while working in the outskirts of cities, or in fields with no medical facilities. Mortality has reached its peak due to the persistence and pervasiveness of inequality in the health sector. A country, whose women work force is chronically ill treated in terms of wages, safety and health, condemned to remain forever on the edge of the abyss, is bound to fail in its march for progress.

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