PODA Organizes Conference On International Day Of Rural Women

Potohar Organization for Development Advocacy (PODA) Tuesday organized a two-day 12th annual conference on International Day of Rural Women at Lok Virsa here on Tuesday

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 15th Oct, 2019 ) :Potohar Organization for Development Advocacy (PODA) Tuesday organized a two-day 12th annual conference on International Day of Rural Women at Lok Virsa here on Tuesday.

The purpose of the conference was to highlight the key challenges facing rural women and suggestions for improvements in the areas of democracy and peace.

The conference was being attended by around 2000 rural women representing all regions and cultures of Pakistan, officials of the Government and members of diplomatic missions in Islamabad.

The conference was linked with the global vision for improving lives of rural women around the world as October 15 had been declared by the United Nations as the "International Day of Rural Women.

In the inaugural session Chairperson PODA Dr Zarina Salamat said rural women were the backbone of agriculture and economy so government must include clear and strong mention of women in new laws regarding farming.

She said that the status of rural women working in agriculture as farmer must be acknowledged and for rural women empowerment, government should allocate its free land to landless women farmers so that they can be economically strong and stable.

She suggested that women farmers should also be trained by pesticides companies to ensure their safety and be provided seeds and fertilizers at low rates and informed about safety measures.

She thoroughly talked about violence against women in rural communities adding that need for legislative and procedural reforms to strengthen access to justice.

Chairperson Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Commission on status of Women, Riffat Sardar said that they were facing stark discrimination in term of wages, part-time work, unfavorable working environment.

She stressed that there was dire need for devising strong policy to ensure free working environment, besides paying them as per market rates.

She urged the government, parliamentarians and all agencies concerned to listen to the voices of women of Pakistan for peace and democracy.

Deputy country representative UN Women, Aisha Mukhtar while enhancing their role in country's economy said that government must ensure implementation of Pro-Women laws for rural women.

She said that the rural women make up approximately one third of the agricultural task, from seed sowing to harvesting, they participate in entire process but their working conditions need to be addressed.

There was dire need of empowering and facilitating agro women to have a durable positive impact on agriculture productivity and families' food and social security, she stated.