ISLAMABAD: A total of 2,000 women from the country’s rural areas came together on Monday as part of the 11th annual Potohar Organisation for Development Advocacy (Poda) conference.

Speakers addressing the conference pledged to stop gender-based violence and ensure greater political participation of rural women to bring real change to the lives of millions of rural women across Pakistan.

Women Dawn spoke to at the conference said they are still confronted with numerous legal, behavioural and societal challenges that require immediate corrective measures at the policy and implementation level.

Indra from Mataarian in Sindh said she works in the fields as a daily-wage farmer but never gets paid regularly. She told Dawn members of her community face a number of challenges as women and as minorities.

“I have eight children and no one goes to school and they work with me in the fields. Earlier, we didn’t have a school in our villages. Now we have one but our children are not accepted by the other Muslim children among them, therefore our children avoid going to school,” she said.

Mahnaz Iftikhar from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa runs a project on water irrigation resources in the tribal areas. She told Dawn this was her first time at the rural women’s conference, but wondered about its utility.

Ms Iftikhar suggested that working groups should be formed which include rural women from various constituencies to involve them in discussions.

She said the speeches throughout the day do not involve these rural women because of their capacity for understanding.

“Some women, who have a better understanding of women’s issues, should involve a number of other women in group discusses and should try to learn about the issues they face at the grassroots level,” she said.

Ms Iftikhar explained that her husband had married again, and she had taken up work to look after her children with the full support of her father and brother.

She said social acceptance and security were the two main hurdles facing her work, as she runs her project in the tribal areas and does not have direct access to other women. Instead, she said, they train men from the area to teach women at home about kitchen gardening and so on.

Speakers from government and academic institutions as well as political parties spoke at various sessions, including on gender-based violence and the political participation of women and girls.

They said more women from the rural areas need to come forward and be a part of decision-making, and the electoral process at the national, provincial and local government levels. Women therefore need to be sensitised on the importance of exercising their right to vote.

Domestic violence, which has been a major problem in the rural areas, has destructive effects on women’s social, political and economic empowerment.

Poet Kishwar Naheed also recited a poem written for rural women at the conference, while Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) member Anis Haroon told participants that women should demand their rights in one voice.

“Women farmers are not given the due facilities in Pakistan. If they were provided the facilities, they can change the economic situation of Pakistan,” she said.

Rural women are usually not recognised and represented in the national discourse, and are therefore excluded from governments’ major development plans, PODA Executive Director Sameena Nazir said.

She said they wanted the PTI-led government to hear the voice of the marginalised segment of society.

Speaking at the inaugural session German Ambassador Martin Kobler said there is dire need of greater political participation of rural women to come forward and tackle the challenges.

He said a healthy democratic society can help bring prosperity to its people and safeguard their democratic rights. Therefore, it is important to educate the masses, especially women on their responsibility and right to vote.

The conference also featured stalls selling products made by home-based artisans, as well as dance and musical performances throughout the first day.

Published in Dawn, October 16th, 2018