LAHORE, May 30: Punjab Social Welfare and Women Development Department Secretary Qazi Afaaq Husain has induced women to stand up for securing their just rights.

Speaking at a seminar on the “Plight of working women in Pakistan” organized by the Women’s Empowerment Group at Kinnaird College on Friday, he said the government had full faith in women for they were setting examples for men to follow. To substantiate his point, he cited examples of Shaheen Atiqur Rehman, Prof Dr Yasmin Rashid and Zareen Aziz.

He said the Social Welfare and Women Development Department had also prepared and launched a 15-year national plan of action for women empowerment in 1998. He also stressed that men should also know about women’s rights so that they could protect their rights in a better way.

Earlier, MPA Dr Anjum Amjad said the status of women needed to be improved a lot. She said the literacy rate gap between girls and boys was increasing.

The Punjab government, she said, had organized a festival in Lahore to display the handicraft items of women from all over the province. “When we approached the women in the far-flung areas, men simply refused to let women to go to Lahore,” she said. They said: “Our wives will start making demands when they set their foot outside their homes”. Consequently, she said, men came to Lahore along with the items manufactured by their wives.

Dr Anjum said the mela was organized to eliminate the role of middleman and offer better price of their products. The Punjab government was also planning to organize such melas across the province besides offering loans up to Rs40,000 with only seven per cent mark-up.

She also stressed that ministries should ensure the implementation of relevant laws to secure women’s rights.

Roohi Rais said women were facing sexual harassment and gender discrimination at their workplaces. She said women generally worked on account of economic reasons.

Farah Pervaiz said women workers worked more diligently but got less salaries.

Neelma Sarwar and Aysha Javed Akram also spoke.