Mehnatkash Aurat Rally decries lack of safety for women in public spaces and workplaces

Women leaders from various labour movements came together on International Women's Day at the "Mehnatkash Aurat Rally" organised by the Home-Based Women Workers Federation (HBWWF) in Karachi demanding an end to capitalist exploitation, social oppression and state coercion.

The rally began at the Karachi Press Club Chowk and concluded in a meeting at the Arts Council of Pakistan Karachi. Hundreds of participants, including political and social activists, and women workers from diverse sectors, raised their voices in solidarity with the cause of women empowerment.

The rally was led by Zehra Khan of the HBWWF, Sammi Baloch of the Voice of Baloch Missing Persons, and Sorath Latif Lahar of the Voice of Sindhi Missing Persons.

Speakers at the event emphasised the challenges women faced within an entrenched feudal system. They decried the lack of safety for women in public spaces and workplaces, and even in positions of political power. They also condemned the culture of enforced disappearances and violence as a tool to silence dissent and suppress democratic freedoms.

They said that economic policies favouring the elite were also a major burden on women. They highlighted unequal pay, workplace harassment and unsafe working conditions as consequences of the current economic model. These factors, the speakers argued, contributed to widespread poverty and forced women into economic vulnerability.

The rally celebrated the rise of women as powerful leaders of resistance movements. They recognised Mah Rang Baloch, Sassi Lohar, Sammi Baloch and other women for their courage in confronting injustice. From demanding accountability for enforced disappearances to seeking justice for victims of violence, women had been taking a leading role in shaping a better future, it was said.

The speakers highlighted the role women played in diverse struggles — from advocating for the lady health workers' rights to challenging exploitative practices in the textile industry. They said that the rally served as a platform for uniting various resistance movements against all forms of oppression, aiming to create a more just and equitable society. The rally concluded with the demands for living wages for workers and elimination of gender-based wage gaps, abolition of discriminatory laws, eradication of class and economic violence, establishment of anti-harassment committees in workplaces, and registration of all workers in the social security and pension institutions.

They also demanded maternity leave with compensation and concrete actions to prevent sexual harassment and violence, abolition of the feudal system that perpetuated social inequality, and end to enforced disappearances and brutal killings.

The speakers also voiced in support of the lady health workers’ demands and sought reforms for equitable distribution of agricultural land as well independence from the economic dominance of institutions like the International Monetary Fund.

They remarked that the Mehnatkash Aurat Rally stood as a testament to the spirit of women leading the fight for a more democratic, just and prosperous Pakistan.

March for Gaza

The Jamaat-e-Islami’s (JI) Karachi Women Wing took out a walk to mark World Women Day and dedicated the march to women in Gaza.

Addressing the women participants of the walk at the Karachi Press Club, Karachi JI emir Hafiz Naeemur Rehman said that the entire world observes the women day today in order to highlight the plight of women in the world, but unfortunately the plight of women in Gaza is neglected by those in the corridors of powers. The women in Gaza have been subjected to inhumane sufferings. They are killed in the most cold-blooded fashion, forced to starve, deprived of basic necessities and their families are left to die before them without any medical care, he added.

Rehman said the JI Pakistan emir Sirajul Haq has appealed to the nation to observe March 10 as a solidarity day with the Palestinians against the Israeli regime and their supporters.

He further said that the JI Karachi would take out a big rally on March 10 from the mausoleum of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah to the Sea Breeze Plaza in order to express solidarity with the Palestinians. “The holy month of Ramzaan will also be observed to express solidarity with our brothers in Palestine,” he said. He highlighted the role of Pakistan and the rest of Muslim bloc in the world for the Palestine cause and Palestinians. He recalled that in the past, the Pakistan Air Force and others had played a magnificent role for the Muslim bloc of the world. However, he said, the prevailing ruling regime in the country was spineless.