Speakers reminisce about pioneers of Women’s Day

I A Rehman, a seasoned journalist and the honorary spokesperson of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, on Friday said the primary objective of marking International Women’s Day is to remember and recognise the efforts, achievements and sacrifices of the textile and garment factory women workers of North America and Europe who initiated a struggle against the capitalist system.

He was addressing as a keynote speaker at the inauguration event of the first edition of a two-day women conference. The Arts Council of Pakistan is hosting the conference to celebrate International Women’s Day by bringing together a diverse group of women from various fields and walks of life and to look into the issues of women and come up with their solutions.

Prominent activists and authors Zehra Nigah, Kishwar Naheed, Syeda Shehla Raza, Zubaida Mustafa, Ameena Saiyed, Fatima Hassan, Anis Haroon, and Sadiqa Salahuddin were among the prominent guests on the first day.

Pointing the women activists sitting on the stage, Rehman said they have played a key role in educating women about their rights and organising them politically and socially. “Women are as hard-working as their male counterparts so there is no reason they should be considered weaker or any lesser than men. And the story of all home-based workers is also the same,” he remarked. He demanded the abolition of all laws that discriminate against women.

Justice (retd) Nasira Iqbal, a jurist and law professor, said women have been contributing majorly to the country’s economy, and political and social sectors.

She said the women have played a key role in the Pakistan movement too. “Even in the referendum in the then North West Frontier Province (now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), women campaigned door to door in the favour of Pakistan,” she said. “We must understand that women are not the properties of men, they are equal contributors in society,” she said.

Nasira said the province of Sindh has several pro-women laws but the implementation of these laws is the key to ending violence against women. “In the current era, women have been given jobs on the merit, not on quota,” she remarked.