Rural Women In Agricultural Fields Largest Contributors To Economy, Lack Rights: Kashmala

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 23rd Dec, 2022 ) :Federal Ombudsperson for Protection against Harassment Kashmala Tariq on Friday said the rural women working in agricultural fields were the largest contributors to informal economy in Pakistan, but they were not acknowledged, counted and protected.

"These women have same rights as working women in cities but in remote areas there is no recognition of their contribution and rights," she expressed these views at the national launch of study on women agricultural workers rights organized by Awaz-CDS Pakistan.

She also said that there was a strong need to implement laws already in place for women agricultural workers' rights as they often earned less than men and were deprived of basic rights and protection. She stressed the need of creating awareness among Women Agricultural Workers (WAWs) through mass media and effective role of local governments in addressing these issues.

The study titled "The Hands That Feed Us: Struggles of Women Agricultural Workers in Pakistan" was conducted by AwazCDS-Pakistan in collaboration with Forum Asia and Bread for the World in the aftermath of COVID-19 pandemic.

Chief Executive AwazCDS-Pakistan Zia-ur-Rehman highlighted in his address that women agricultural workers (WAWs) often earn less than 50 percent of men wages.

WAWs traditionally face malnutrition, discrimination, violence, and ill-treatment by their partners, including exploitation and sexual harassment. Most of them are married in early age and forced to work in fields on behalf of in-law families as bonded laborers.

Highlighting the need to carry out this study, . Rehman said that "There are several women empowerment studies but limited research is available on the measurement of empowerment in the agricultural context. Therefore, it was decided to carry out a study to assess, identify and articulate the contributing factors associated with socio-economic, legal, gender and political empowerment of Women Agriculture Workers (WAW) in Sindh and Punjab Provinces of Pakistan" Maryam Amjad, Program Manager AwazCDS Pakistan shared the method, findings and recommendations from the study. She recommended that provincial ministries, district departments, UN and Trade Unions must be involved in ensuring WAW rights by building their capacities and raising their awareness. Debendra Adhikari, Head of South Asia Program Forum Asia thanked the participants for their great contributions.