Rural Sindh: ‘Women workers, peasants have been living in miserable conditions’

HYDERABAD: Women workers and peasants living in miserable conditions in rural Sindh, government should take concrete measures to protect women rights, said by women trade union leaders.

Hari Welfare Association (HWA) and Women lead trade union leaders peasants women hold press conference at local press club Sanghar to highlight women worker issues.

Akram Khaskheli President Hari Welfare Association, Basheran khaskheli President of Mehran Aurat Trade Union, Shanti Joint Secretary of Sindhyani Hari trade union, Rehana Masih Kissan Aurat union, Bhaan Mangrio President Hari Ethad Trade union and Azeem Rojho said while speaking at a press conference that in the rural areas of Sindh, peasant and laborer women are living in extremely poor conditions. Currently, the Sindh government has set a minimum wage of 32,000 rupees per month, but even today, Women workers and peasants work all day for a monthly wage ranging from 8,000 to 15,000 rupees. The government has not paid attention to this issue. We demand that the government ensure the fixed monthly wage of 32,000 rupees for women working in agriculture in Sindh. The social and economic conditions of peasant and laborer women in Sindh are extremely worrying, and their difficulties have further increased due to the devastation caused by the 2022 floods.

The homes of peasants and laborers collapsed during the recent rains, and their livestock have died in large numbers. The rehabilitation of destroyed homes is proceeding very slowly, and millions of peasants are still living under the open sky. There is no sustainable plan for the economic recovery of agricultural laborer and peasant women in Sindh, which is why rural women are still economically disadvantaged in this modern age. Furthermore, women registered in the Benazir Income Support Program are humiliated by being made to stand in queues at centers and banks. We demand that small business projects be initiated for peasant and laborer women so that they can become economically advanced.

The Sindh Bonded Labour Abolition Act was enacted in 2015 to prevent forced labor, but even after nine years, it has not been implemented. As a result, thousands of peasants and laborers are freed each year from the private jails and forced labor of landlords and kiln owners. District vigilance committees established under this law have not been activated in any district, leading to an increase in forced labor. The situation of forced labor is rapidly worsening, with 11,135 peasants and laborers, including 3,705 women, freed from landlords and kiln owners between 2013 and 2022 under court orders.

The Sindh Agriculture Women Act 2019, passed by the Sindh government, should be implemented without delay. Peasants and peasant women should be given permanent worker status, providing them with social security, health, education, and insurance facilities.

Government lands in Sindh should be allocated to landless peasants and peasant women, giving them packages for settlement, and the process of registering their unions under the given law should be made easy, transparent, and fair.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024