LAHORE, March 9: Women workers staged a rally on Nisbet Road on Sunday to press for an end to gender discrimination in employment and at the workplace.

Speaking to the participants in the rally, All-Pakistan Federation of Trade Unions Women’s Wing secretary Huma Aziz and others said women constituted about half the population of the country, but they were being denied due representation in job opportunities on account of gender discrimination.

They said women were not allowed to hold administrative posts in most of the organizations because of the general thinking that they were weak and lacked managerial capabilities. Women had also been denied equal opportunities in the field of education and were often subjected to violence within homes and outside.

They said society would have to change its attitude towards women because progress was not possible without their participation in the development process. They said the government should ensure payment of equal wages to women at the workplace besides ending gender discrimination against them.