ISLAMABAD: Hundreds of rural women from different parts of the country gathered at Lok Virsa on Sunday for celebrating the International Rural Women Day, urging all the political parties to prioritize their rights in party' manifesto.
The two-day colourful function was arranged by Potohar organization for Development and Advocacy (PODA), Lok Virsa, Women Parliamentary Caucus (WPC) and other organizations.
Addressing the Int'l Rural Women Day conference, the speakers highlighted the plight of rural women who perform the 80 percent agriculture work in the rural areas but their contributions remain unrecognized and unrewarded.
The speakers lamented that there is no agriculture policy at federal and provincial level in the country and demanded to formulate the agriculture policy at all the provinces with maximum incentives for the farmers and workers of agri-sector.
They said the political parties have never paid attention toward giving any subsidy or incentive to the farmers community and called for providing technical training to the women farmers to meet the growing demands and initiating soft loan schemes.
They strongly demanded the banning of that polling station during election which has less than 15 percent women voters.
The rural women from different provinces highlighted that any political party has not added a single line for the development of rural women in its party manifesto before
elections.
While formulating the budget, no one considers any allocation for the uplift, training and welfare of rural women, they added.
Director PODA, Sameena Nazir appreciated the laws and legislations envisaged during the last four years especially the laws related to women right to land and early marriages.
She said it is the responsibility of the representatives of political parties to focus on implementation of these laws.
Aqsa Khan from WORD and Rehana Hashmi from Sisters Trust Pakistan also emphasized on promoting awareness among rural women about their ultimate rights.
Executive Director, Lok Virsa, Khalid Javed said women comprises more than 50 percent of the total population and their active role in the country's development is vital for the uplift.
He announced free entry of rural women in the Lok Virsa and Pakistan Monument Museum for Sunday and Monday.
Along with the conference, an exhibition was also arranged with colourful products made by the rural women from different provinces.
The exhibition displayed around 25 stalls with the different items including traditional dresses, shoes, jewelry, handicrafts, wallets, caps, vases and books on various subjects.
The stalls were set up by Strengthening Participatory Organization (SPO), PODA, Seher, Shirkat Gah, Beedari, Rozan, Irada, Children Global Network, Benazir Welfare Society, Silk Route Hunza, Trust for Conservation of Coastal Reserves, Catholic Women Organization and Acid Survivors Foundation.
The function will conclude on Monday with different activities and political representatives from different parties will participate.
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