KARACHI, April 6: Speakers at a press conference on Thursday condemning the government’s proposal to increase working hours for women till 11pm demanded withdrawal of the proposed law.

The press conference was organized at the Karachi Press Club by the Working Women Organization Trust. The representatives of the trust, Rehana Afroze and Shaista Rehman, and Nargis Rehman of the Karachi Women Peace Committee said that passing a law of extending the working hours till 11pm would make women, who already were a disadvantaged class, vulnerable to exploitation by the management.

Maintaining that the proposed law says that the management would provide transport to women workers who work till 11pm, they said that such facility could not be ensured as the owners would not give transport facility to cut the expenses and the government did not have any mechanism to ensure that the transport was provided.

The women rights activists said that there already were several laws, like provision of separate toilets for women, provision of day care facilities for pre-nursery children of the women working in the organizations, but since there was no mechanism to ensure the implementation of these laws, a very few organizations provide such facilities. Even many government organizations did not have these facilities, they added.

Highlighting the problems and harassment women faced at their workplaces, they said that working till late in night would aggravate their problems. Besides, they added, the proposed law would also affect their efficiency.

Referring to a survey of 440 women working in various fields, conducted by the Trust, they said that 98 per cent of them were against the proposed law stating that it would make women workers more vulnerable to the exploitative forces. The survey was conducted in Karachi, Lahore, Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Gujrat, Faisalabad, Multan and Mansehra during March 2006.

They demanded that the restriction provided in the Section 45 (B) of the Factory’s Act 1934 should not be changed, which prohibits taking work from female workers after 7pm. Under the Factory’s Act, they said, exemption has been provided to the seasonal factories and there was no need to make new law.

Criticising the move, the women rights activists termed it the worst form of exploitation. They said that working hours were being extended to provide inexpensive and vulnerable labour to the international investors.

They warned if their demand was not accepted they would launch a protest movement against the exploitative law. They claimed that they had also approached the parliamentarians to get their support.