HARIPUR: Speakers in a women’s assembly here on Tuesday said rural women were backbone of the agriculture sector and they worked in adverse working conditions but their contribution to economic development weren’t highlighted much.

The event was organised in Kamilpur village.

Different organisations, including Roots for Equity and Pakistan Kissan Mazdoor Tehreek, celebrated the Rural Women’s Day along with Pesticide Action Network Asia-Pacific (PANAP), International Women Alliance (IWA), Asian Peasant Coalition (APC) and other people’s organisations.

PKMT member Rida Batool said rural women played a critical role in the cultivation and harvesting of crops and vegetables and the breeding of livestock but their contribution in food and agricultural productions were not valued due to the deeply-embedded patriarchal system.

She and other speakers demanded just distribution of land among small and landless farmers, both men and women.

Published in Dawn, October 16th, 2019