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‘Give us land, not just the sickle and broom’

* Rural women call for end to hunger, demand right to land ownership

Text by Amar Guriro and photos by Athar Hussain

KARACHI: About a hundred rural women, wearing colourful traditional Thari dresses, covering their faces and carrying sickles that symbolized that they were agricultural workers; marched on the streets of the city on Saturday. They started their rally from Regal Chowk and walked all the way to the Karachi Press Club (KPC).

The rally was arranged by Action Aid, an NGO, under the banner ‘End hunger and give women the right to own land’.

Most of the women participants of the rally chanted slogans and carried placards that declared their demands. “This rally was initiated to give the women of Sindh their rights, particularly the women from the rural areas, and rallies of this sort will continue in all provinces,” said one participant.

Local non-government organisations from different districts of Sindh were also participating in the rally.

Speaking about their woes, women from the rural areas said that the recent food crisis in Pakistan has increased their workload, not only at home, but also in the agricultural fields. This in turn is increasing suicide rates and incidents of domestic violence as women face all kinds of problems.

“Rural women who work as farmers at the grassroots level produce food but are deprived of the basic right to own land and that is one of the reasons behind the food crisis,” said Ameerzadi, a social worker from Dadu who had come to participate in a rally demanding that women be given the right to own land.

“Pakistan ranks fifth on the international list of countries severely affected by hunger and poverty,” said Action Aid Pakistan Senior Program Officer Adam Malik. Malik further said that the food shortage and price hike has badly affected vulnerable groups of society, mostly women and children.

“Families are compelled to pull their children out of school and employ them wherever possible and the women, especially the ones engaged in farming, are forced to work harder to get food for their families,” he said. Stress and pressure from male members to reduce the family’s food consumption has severely affected the health of women and children and most of them suffer from malnutrition, he added.

Data reveals that in Pakistan, 44.8 percent of the total labour force is engaged in agriculture, forestry and fishing and 69.9 percent of all workers are women while only 38.4 percent are males. Despite this, less than 2 percent of women own land. “We produce the food at the grassroots level but are deprived of our fundamental rights and that may be a major reason behind the worsening food shortage,” said Afshan Jaskani, another social worker from Dadu.

Another worker from Khipro, district Sanghar, Rehana Mangrio, said that from a woman’s perspective, the right to own land enables them to claim their share of resources to sustain their communities.

Adam Malik said that Action Aid has initiated an international campaign under the banner ‘Hunger-free women’ and in Pakistan, the campaign started from Sindh and in the next few weeks such a rally will be taken out in Punjab and later in NWFP and Balochistan.

“Women are the most important part of a society and the PPP government will enable women in different fields of life to have the right to own land, so they may get their due share in the society,” said Sindh Speaker Nisar Ahmed Khuhro. Addressing the rally at the KPC, Khuhro said that his government has given more rights to women.

PPP MPA Humaira Alwani said that they will not only give women the right to own land but will also provide them with shelter so that they may live with ease.

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