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Women’s workshop calls for protection of home-based workers

* Contributions of home-based workers, commonly known as housewives, ignored by community and government, says participant

'It is important to involve the Ministry of Labour and Manpower in the process of national policy implementation for home-based workers. Cooperation between the Ministry of Women Development and the Ministy of Labour and Manpower should be developed.’
Centre for Advocacy and Dialogue Chairman Dr Sabur Ghayoor

‘Globalisation of the market economy has spread all over the world in the last decade of the 20th Century, after the collapse of the socialist planned economy in Eastern Europe. Electronic information technology such as computers and internet is playing a key role in promoting globalisation.’
Dr Rubina Saigol

Staff Report

LAHORE: Home-based workers must be given protection under the law and the forthcoming national census to be held in October 2009, participants of an advocacy workshop with female parliamentarian said on Wednesday.

The HomeNet Pakistan in collaboration with Aurat Foundation organized the workshop on the ‘Implementation Process of the National Policy for Home-based workers’. The workshop was attended by female representatives from the National Assembly, the Punjab Assembly, the Women’s Ministry, Directorate of Women Development, Gender Reform Action Plan (GRAP) and Ministry of Labour and Manpower.

HomeNet representative Ume Laila Azhar said one of the most crucial things the new assemblies should implement was a monitoring system, whereby the progress of legislators could be regularly checked.

Housewives: She said the contributions of home-based workers, more commonly known as housewives, continued to be ignored by the community and the government should take a more pro-active stance by enacting legislation to protect such workers. Talking on the impact of globalisation and its emerging new trends, she said the increased informal sector had given birth to increased poverty for women.

Samina Khan from Sungi Foundation shared the draft of the national policy for home-based workers. The participants were told that 76 percent of the female workers were in the informal sector and their work was insecure, irregular and often unrecognised.

Surroundings: Government College University Assistant Professor Nadia Saleem said thousands of women in Pakistan worked long hours, in cramped and badly ventilated surroundings, earning a mere pittance. They belong to large families, where almost all family members work and contribute to the household income. Hence, most start working from the age of 10-12 years, and are illiterate, unskilled or semi-skilled, burdened with household chores and family responsibilities at the same time, she said.

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