SIALKOT
The UN Women Pakistan, the Sialkot Chamber of Commerce and Industry and a non-profit organisation jointly organised the orientation ceremony of a project titled “Integrated support for socioeconomic rehabilitation of the jobless home-based workers in Sialkot” at SCCI Auditorium.
The stakeholders stressed early policy making and legislation for the welfare of the home-based workers, urging the government to ensure their capacity-building and provision of better working opportunities, their training regarding the advanced technologies, access to the markets and equality in their salaries as per those of male colleagues.
They urged the government to take steps to save voiceless and ignored female workers from further exploitation. They said that the Punjab government should approve and adopt a policy on home-based workers in line with ILO Convention 177 to ensure decent working environment on gender responsive basis, expedited legislation for accomplishment of the policy objectives, awarding legal status, provision of legal minimum wage to HBWs, ensuring safe and healthy working environment, their admissibility for social security, old-age pension, worker welfare grants and other legal entitlements and provision of access to job diversification arrangements.
The stakeholders also discussed the baseline assessment to find out alternative income generation options and spaces for soccer stitchers in Sialkot and pledged to resolve their problems.
Ms Fauzia Waqar, chairperson of Punjab Commission on the Status of Women, said that the government would ensure maximum empowerment of the HBWs through their training, capacity-building and enabling the, to start their businesses. She said that the government was making strenuous efforts for raising awareness, mobilisation of target workers and the relevant stakeholders, formation of workers’ groups and their capacity building, skills enhancement in diversified areas of earning, workers’ mobilisation for taking initiatives for micro-entrepreneurship and own account employment and provision of technical and financial support.
Women’s Economic Empowerment UN Women Programme Coordinator Uzma Quresh also stressed the need for establishing strong linkages between the HMWs and the job providers in Sialkot.
Ramesh Singh Arora, chairman of the Punjab Assembly Standing Committee on Commerce and Investment, assured the participants that the government would play a key role in assuring the well-being of the vulnerable workforce of Home Based Workers by taking up integrated and comprehensive measures.
SCCI President Dr Sarfraz Bashir revealed that there was an urgent need to develop a comprehensive system for registration of all the home-based workers at district, provincial and national levels. The house declared that the workers were the asset of the country as this is the only segment that has provided big support to the retreating economy of the country. Addressing the participants, Prof Arshad Mirza, the president of NGO Baidarie, demanded that amendments should be introduced in the Social Security Ordinance to provide similar facilities of social security to the workers in informal sector as are being given to the workers in the formal sector of economy.
He added that both the UN Women and International Labour Organisation have been providing financial and technical assistance for the betterment of these female stitchers. Ms Hina Noureen, the chairperson of Baidarie, told the participants that according to the ILO study, in Sialkot, majority of the women workers and particularly the former stitchers were not aware of their basic rights.
A vast majority of the jobless women lack skills, expertise, capacity and linkages needed for having access to income generating alternatives. Neither they have information of the facilities that may impart training relevant to the market requirements nor do they have easy access to such facilities available in the city centre, she added. She narrated that their access to such industrial and business set-ups in the local market that may provide jobs is also very limited.