Two-day Conference On 'International Day Of Rural Women' Starts At Lok Virsa

A two-day 11th annual conference on "International Day of Rural Women" organized by Potohar Organization for Development Advocacy (PODA) here at Lok Virsa on Monday.

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 15th Oct, 2018 ) :A two-day 11th annual conference on "International Day of Rural Women" organized by Potohar Organization for Development Advocacy (PODA) here at Lok Virsa on Monday.

The conference is linked with the global vision for improving lives of rural women around the glob as the October 15th has been declared by the United Nations as the "International Day of Rural Women". PODA has been organizing this annual conference regularly since 2008.

One of the most significant aims of this event is to facilitate the rural women of Pakistan to get interacted with the women from other provinces and regions in order to share their experiences, reflect on lessons learned and strategize collectively for local action in their respective areas.

The purpose of the two-day conference is to highlight the key challenges facing rural women and share their suggestions for improvements in the areas of democracy and peace.

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

In the inaugural session PODA Chairperson Dr Zarina Salamat said rural women were the backbone of agriculture and economy, so the government must include clear and strongly mentioning 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.

She urged the government, parliamentarians and all agencies concerned to listen to the voices of women of Pakistan for peace and democracy. She said that government must ensure implementation of pro-women laws for rural women.

Further more she stressed that political parties should ensure more representation of women in their parties and development funds be allocated for women.

She said, "We welcome the laws adopted against early marriages to stop child marriages and demanded of the government to set-up mechanisms to monitor and ensure implementation of child marriages and also demanded legislation against forced marriages as well".