KARACHI: The Sindh Commission on the Status of Women (SCSW) in collaboration with Potohar Organisation for Development Advocacy, Pakistan (PODA) and Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) organised a consultation at the SCSW office.

The objective of the consultation was to discuss gender-based violence and protection issues that impact women farmers in Pakistan, identify areas within work dynamics, policy and legislation, and local community systems, prepare a strategy for protection for women in agriculture and to contribute to the emergency and resilience strategy of the government, and make recommendations of safeguards for women in the agriculture sector.

The consultation was attended by SCSW chairperson Nuzhat Shirin, PODA president Sameena Nazir, Sindh women development department secretary Anjum Iqbal, agriculture extension director Mustafa Nangraj, and Shiza Malik from Legal Aid Society amongst others.

All stakeholders pledged to develop a strategic plan to improve the legal implementation mechanism for women in agriculture.

It was decided that Farhat Parveen would be appointed as the focal person on behalf of the SCSW and Darakshan Sualeh as gender expert.

PODA and SCSW signed a memorandum of understanding extending their partnership in working towards improving the lives of women in agriculture.

Women make up 49 per cent of Pakistan’s 228 million population. More than 50pc of Pakistanis live in rural areas.

Nearly 67pc of women in rural Pakistan work in the agriculture sector largely in family farms, and are mostly unpaid for their time and labour.

Pakistani rural women engage in all aspects of agricultural work, but despite demands, they are neither recognised nor counted for their contributions to the national economy.

Despite the significant role women play in agriculture, most women farmers do not own the land they work on, do not get equal wages for equal work and often face serious problems, including harassment, economic exploitation, and physical and psychological abuse.

However, protection issues of women farmers are not well known or documented in Pakistan, and have not been addressed by policymakers in a systemic way.

Published in Dawn, April 3rd, 2022