Potohar Organization for Development Advocacy (PODA) Executive Director Samina Nazir said on Saturday that they would draw the upcoming government’s attention to rural women’s issues such as rights to land, employment quotas, protection against violence and a comprehensive framework for implementing women protection laws to help them become productive members of society.
She said that these rights had been ignored in the past, and in order to empower rural women, one acre of free land should be given to landless woman so that they could earn a respectable living and support their families rather than facing the landlords’ exploitation.
Samina further said that the upcoming government should introduce a dedicated program for rural women, focusing on their needs and challenges, as their problems differed from those of urban women. The ratio of educational and other opportunities for rural women were quite less compared to urban women, and bridging this gap was essential.
“Patriarchal norms and male-oriented values in the rural areas create hindrances for women”, she said, adding, “We need to design a special program for them which would help facilitate them at a grass roots level”.
Samina opined that incentives for small and medium entrepreneurs would also help expand their opportunities and increase their confidence in their abilities, helping them raise their income despite limited mobility and cultural obstacles.
She told that rural women lacked training opportunities for establishing independent businesses. If they could acquire this training, it would help them get decent earnings off their hard work, she said.
Samina also sought quotas for rural women for high posts in government and private sector jobs like the administration, judiciary and management to develop healthy competition amongst them and improve their future prospects. She also demanded a concrete strategy for implementing women protection laws to ensure safe working environments for them and allow them to raise their voices against discrimination.